: 


1726.  1876. 

AN  ACCOUNT  OF  THE  OBSERVANCE  OF  THE 

ONE  HUHpp/ND  FIFTIETH  /N^IVERSAJJY 


WILTON,  CONN.,  JUNE  22,  1876, 


^ 


INCLUDING   A 


HISTORICAL   ADDRESS, 


By  SAMUEL  G.    WILLARD, 


A    POEM, 


By  JOHN  G.   DAVENPORT. 


NEW    YORK: 

R.  J.  Johnston,  Printer,  181    William  St. 
1876. 


INTRODUCTION. 


AT  the  Annual  Meeting  of  the  WILTON  CONGREGATIONAL 
CHURCH,  held  January  7th,  1876,  the  Pastor,  Deacons  and 
Standing  Committee  were  authorized  to  make  arrange- 
ments for  an  appropriate  celebration  of  the  One  Hundred 
and  Fiftieth  Anniversary  of  the  Organization  of  this  Church 
in  the  month  of  June  following. 

At  the  first  meeting  of  the  Committee,  Rev.  SAMUEL  G. 
WILLARD,  of  Colchester,  was  invited  to  prepare  an  Address 
for  the  occasion  and  Rev.  JOHN  G.  DAVENPORT,  of  Bridge- 
port, a  Poem.  At  this  meeting  the  Committee  voted  to  add 
to  their  number  the  Society's  Committee. 

After  repeated  meetings  the  following  invitation  and  order 
of  exercises  was  prepared  and.  sent  (so  far  as  their  address 
could  be  obtained)  to  all  natives  of  the  town  holding  former 
relations  to  this  Church  and  Society  : 

1726.  1876. 

ONE   HUNDRED  AND  FIFTIETH  ANNIVEESABY 

OF    THE 

WILTON      CONGREGATIONAL      CHURCH 

AND     SOCIETY, 
TITORSDAY,    JUNE    22d,     1876. 


You  are  respectfully  invited  to  meet  with  the  friends  of  this 
Church  and  Society,  on  Thursday,  June  22d,  at  half -past  10,  A.  M., 
and  share  in  the  privileges  of  the  occasion. 

Hon.  CHARLES  JONES,  of  New  York,  has  been  invited  to  act 
as  President  of  the  day. 

The  Address  of  Welcome  will  be  given  by  Rev.  S.  J.  M. 
MEKWIN,  Pastor. 

Response  by  Rev.  JAMES  W.   HTJBBELL,  of  New  Haven. 

Historical  Address  by  Rev.  S.  G.  WH/LARD,  of   Colchester. 

Poem  by  Rev.  J.  G.   DAVENPORT,  of  Bridgeport. 

The  Ladies  will  provide  a  Collation,  to  be  served  after  the  close 
of  the  exercises  in  the  church. 

Please  reply  to 
REV.   S.  J.  M.   MERWIN,  OR  EDWARD  OLMSTEAD. 

Rev.  H.  N.  DUNNING  and  Rev.  D.  R.  AUSTIN,  of  South  Nor- 
walk,  with  Rev.  Dr.  N.  BOUTON,  of  Concord,  N.  H.,  con- 


4  INTRODUCTION. 

ducted  the  devotional  exercises,  and  the  Choir  of  the  Church, 
led  by  Mr.  R.  J.  JOHNSTON,  chorister,  furnished  the  music 
for  the  occasion.  Mr.  FRANK  COMSTOCK  presided  at  the 
Organ. 

After  the  Collation  the  Church  was  again  filled,  and  the 
remainder  of  the  day  spent  in  listening  to  addresses  from 
Eev.  E.  Mix,  of  Orange,  N.  J.,  Rev.  Dr.  NATHANIEL  BOUTON, 
of  Concord,  N.  H.,  Rev.  H.  N.  DUNNING,  of  South  Norwalk, 
EUGENE  SMITH,  Esq.,  and  C.  L.  WESTCOTT,  Esq.,  of  New 
York,  and  others. 

The  meeting  was  closed  with  singing  "  Hold  the  Fort." 
By  vote,  the  Historical  Address,  Poem,  and  other  Ad- 
dresses of  the  morning  were  ordered  to  be  printed. 

Rev.  S.  J.  M.  MERWIN,      1  Publication 
Dea.  EDWARD  OLMSTEAD,  f  Committee. 

Wilton,  Conn.,  July  29&,  1876. 


PEOCEEDINGS. 


THE  exercises  were  commenced  by  the  Pastor,  the  Rev. 
S.  J.  M.  MERWIN,  calling  upon  CHARLES  JONES,  Esq.,  of  New 
York,  to  occupy  the  Chair.  He  was  received  with  a 
hearty  welcome.  Mr.  JONES  said — 

LADIES  AND  GENTLEMEN:  I  thank  you  for  this  cordial 
greeting.  I  confess  that  it  was  with  some  reluctance  that  I 
accepted  the  invitation  of  your  Committee  to  preside  on 
this  occasion,  because  I  thought,  as  I  doubt  not  many  of  you 
now  think,  that  the  place  would  be  better  filled  by  a  perma- 
nent resident  of  the  town  and  one  sustaining  official  relations 
to  the  Church  and  congregation ;  but  still  I  do  not  feel  that  I 
am  an  alien  or  a  stranger  here.  None  of  you  have  a  stronger 
or  a  warmer  affection  for  this  good  old  town  than  I  have. 
And  pleasant  and  agreeable  as  are  my  associations  in  the 
city  where  I  live  (the  City  of  Brooklyn)  and  where  so  many 
of  the  men  and  women  of  New  England  take  up  their  resi- 
dence, no  school-boy  so  longs  for  his  vacation  as  I  long  for 
the  return  of  Summer,  when  I  can  come  home  again  to  the 
rest  which  I  always  find  in  this  quiet  place — the  place  I 
know  and  love  so  well.  Its  hills  and  its  valleys,  its  woods 
and  its  cultivated  fields,  its  meadows  and  its  orchards,  its 
running  brooks,  its  byways  and  highways — I  know  them  all 
so  well  and  so  intimately  that  they  have  come  to  form  a 
part  of  my  very  self.  So,  ladies  and  gentlemen,  I  feel  that 
by  nativity,  in  heart,  mind,  and  in  my  whole  being,  I  am  a 
Wiltonian,  and  it  gives  me  pleasure  to  join  with  you  in  the 
exercises  of  this  day. 


6  ANNIVERSARY   OF  THE 

We  have  come  up  here,  on  this  bright  and  beautiful  Sum- 
mer morning,  with  loving  hearts,  to  record  our  homage  for 
the  Christian  men  and  women  who,  one  hundred  and  fifty 
years  ago,  planted  here  a  Church — a  Church  which  to-day  is 
older  by  a  half  century  than  the  nation.  And  it  is  good  for 
us  to  be  here  as  children.  "  Honor  thy  father  and  thy 
mother "  is  the  Divine  command,  and,  during  all  the  cen- 
turies since  it  was  delivered  from  the  smoking  mount  to  man, 
it  has  always  found  an  echo  in  the  heart  of  every  loving, 
dutiful  child.  And  we  are  especially  bound — we,  the  sons 
and  daughters  of  New  England,  are  called  upon  by  every 
sentiment  of  affection,  of  gratitude,  of  reverence,  aye,  of 
pride,  even — to  honor  and  hold  in  remembrance  the  heroic 
men  and  women  who  planted  on  the  soil  of  New  England 
the  Free  Church,  from  which  have  sprung  a  Free  State  and  a 
Free  Nation ! 

My  friends,  we  do  take  pride,  and  we  justly  take  pride,  in 
our  ancestry.  For  have  we  not  seen  the  great  work  which 
they  did,  all  unconsciously  to  themselves,  and  how  world- 
wide has  been  its  influence?  Yes,  my  friends,  as  clearly  as 
you  can  track  the  course  of  an  overflowing  river  through  an 
arid  waste  by  the  verdure  on  its  banks,  just  as  clearly  can 
you  trace  the  stream  of  New  England  civilization  in  its  flow 
from  ocean  to  ocean  across  the  continent,  bearing  with  it 
whatever  is  best  and  whatever  is  noblest  in  our  social,  our 
educational  and  our  religious  life,  the  family  with  its  purity, 
the  free  school  and  the  academy  with  their  faithful  teachers, 
the  college  and  the  university  with  their  learned  professors, 
and  above  all,  and  greatest  of  all,  the  Church  with  its  mes- 
sengers of  peace  and  love.  , 

Ladies  and  gentlemen,  the  pilgrim  spirit  is  not  dead — no, 
the  pilgrim  spirit  is  not  dead.  "It  walks  in  the  moon's 
broad  light,  and  it  watches  by  the  bed  of  the  glorious  dead 
with  the  holy  stars  at  night."  And  if  it  so  be  that  by  the 
commemoration  services  of  this  day  we  shall  catch  somewhat 
more  of  that  spirit  and  carry  it  with  us  from  this  place,  it 
will  not'  be  in  vain  that  we  have  met  here  to  do  honor  to 
the  little  band  of  Christian  men  and  women  who  planted 


WILTON   CONGREGATIONAL   CHURCH.  7 

here  a  Church  which  has  been  a  source  of  comfort  and  bless- 
ing to  the  generations  that  have  come  and  gone  during  the 
one  hundred  and  fifty  years  of  its  existence.  (Applause.) 

An  Anthem — "Jehovah's  Praise" — was  then  sung  by  the 
Choir ;  the  Solo  being  sung  by  Mrs.  SAMUEL  MARVIN,  daugh- 
ter of  the  Chorister. 

The  Eev.  Mr.  H.  N.  DUNNING,  of  South  Norwalk,  read  the 
145th  Psalm. 

The  CHAIRMAN — Rev.  Mr.  MERWIN  will  extend  a  Wel- 
come to  the  Wiltonian  pilgrims  who  have  come  up  here 
to  day. 

REMAEKS  OF  KEY.  MR.  MERWIN. 
THIS  pleasant  duty  has  been  devolved  upon  me  by  the 
Committee,  and,  as  I  told  the  brother  who  is  to  follow  me,  I 
suppose  all  I  have  to  say  is,  "We  are  very  glad  to  see  you." 
But  he  says  if  I  stop  there  all  he  shall  say  will  be  "  Thank 
you — very  much  obliged."  So  I  suppose  I  must  go  on  a 
little  further ;  and  indeed  it  is  in  my  heart  to  express  to  you 
our  most  sincere  pleasure  at  seeing  so  many  of  you  here  on 
this  occasion ;  that  the  Lord  has  favored  us  with  such  beauti- 
ful weather,  and  that  so  many  of  you  have  left  your  house- 
hold cares  and  your  domestic  duties,  your  farms  and  your 
merchandise,  your  offices  and  your  school-rooms,  and  your 
various  occupations,  and  come  up  to  help  us  celebrate  this  One 
Hundred  and  Fiftieth  Anniversary  of  the  Organization  of  our 
Church.  And  we  feel  that  we  ought  to  extend  a  special  wel- 
come to  all  of  you  who  have  ever  been  connected  with  this 
Church,  and  that  covers  more  ground,  perhaps,  than  you  sup- 
pose. Not  only  do  we* welcome  those  of  you  who  were  bap- 
tized in  this  Church,  and  those  of  you  who  here  came  forward 
and  publicly  professed  your  faith  in  the  Lord  Jesus  Christ,  and 
those  of  you  who  brought  letters  from  other  Churches  and 
thus  united  with  this  Church  of  Christ,  but  also  all  whose 
parents  or  grandparents  or  great-grandparents  were  ever  con- 
nected with  this  Church  ;  and  this,  as  I  said,  perhaps  covers 
more  ground  than  you  suppose — for  one  hundred  and  fifty 


8  ANNIVERSARY   OF  THE 

years  ago  all  persons  were  required  by  law  to  attend 
Church  on  Sundays,  Fast  Days  and  Thanksgiving,  under 
penalty  of  a  fine  of  five  shillings  for  every  absence ;  and 
therefore  it  is  to  be  presumed  that  one  hundred  and  fifty 
years  ago  all  the  people  went  to  Church.  And  for 
more  than  fifty  years  this  was  the  only  Church  here 
in  Wilton,  so  that  those  of  you  who  have  ever  lived  in  Wil- 
ton, or  have  come  down  from  the  old  Wilton  families  are 
more  or  less  connected  with  this  old  Wilton  Church  ;  and  the 
mother  to-day  hails  you  all  as  her  children,  even  though 
some  of  you  may  have  wandered  away  into  the  Methodist 
woods,  or  gone  down  into  the  deep  waters  of  the  Baptist  per- 
suasion, or  taken  refuge  in  the  Episcopal  fold.  We  hail  you 
all  as  common  children  of  this  mother  Church,  and  as  re- 
joicing in  the  prosperity  of  the  kingdom  of  our  Lord  and 
Saviour  Jesus  Christ. 

And  we  welcome  you  back  to  these  old  hills  and  these 
fields  where,  in  early  days,  you  gathered  wild  flowers  and 
strawberries,  and  to  these  old  school-houses  where  you  sat 
down  on  the  hard  slab-seats  and  carved  your  names  to  Yan- 
kee immortality,  and  to  this  Church  of  Chnst  where  you 
came,  some  of  you,  perhaps,  sitting  in  the  gallery  seats  and 
leaving  on  the  walls  a  record  which  you  hoped  might  be  un- 
dying— but  the  whitewasher's  brush  has  wiped  it  off  long  ere 
this. 

To-day,  let  the  lawyer  forget  his  clients,  and  the  judge  his 
court,  and  the  doctor  his  patients  (perhaps  they  will  be  all 
the  better  for  it),  and  the  teacher  his  pupils,  and  the  ladies 
their  domestic  cares  (at  least  those  of  you  who  have  come  from 
abroad).  We  want  you  all  to  be  boys  and  girls  again,  and 
bring  up  the  memories  of  old  times,  especially  after  you  have 
gone  out  from  these  walls  and  are  gathered  together  on  this 
old  Green,  where  so  many  of  you  played  ball  when  you 
were  boys. 

For  some  two  or  three  hours,  perhaps,  we  will  stay  in 
school  and  listen  to  our  masters,  and  learn  well  the  lessons 
they  have  to  teach  us,  and  then — you  know  how  there  never 
was  a  time  when  we  had  such  wild  delight  and  joyous  glee 


WILTON   CONGREGATIONAL   CHURCH.  9 

as  when  school  was  out  and  we  rushed  out  of  doors.  So, 
when  we  have  listened  here  for  a  while,  we  shall  be  all  the 
more  ready  to  participate  in  the  festivities  of  the  occasion. 

The  CHAIRMAN — The  Rev.  JAMES  W.  HUBBELL,  a  native 
of  Wilton,  but  now  a  resident  of  New  Haven,  will  respond 
to  the  Address  of  Welcome. 

REMARKS  OF  REY.  MR.  HUBBELL. 

OUR  friend  here,  in  his  very  kind  welcome,  has  gone  so 
far  beyond  the  short  address  he  had  thought  to  give  us,  that 
if  to  that,  I  should  have  had  nothing  to  say  but  "thank  you," 
now  after  all  he  has  so  well  said,  I  do  not  feel  equal  to  the 
occasion.  Especially  when  I  find,  Mr.  Chairman,  that  over 
and  above  all  that  he  has  said,  we  had  been  so  beautifully 
and  profusely  welcomed  by  the  flowers  in  the  vestibule, 
by  this  old  sanctuary  putting  on  to-day  such  a  glad  and 
welcome  attire,  by  all  these  faces  so  dear  and  familiar,  whose 
every  radiant  feature  has  spoken  welcome. 

Why,  sir,  these  many-toned  welcomes  have  made  us  feel 
at  home  again,  as  though  we  had  not  really  lost  our  inherit- 
ance here ;  that  we  are  riot  aliens  or  strangers — but  have  a 
fellowship  with  these  Saints  and  with  this  Household  of  God. 
It  is  said  that  the  sons  of  old  England,  wherever  they  roam, 
carry  home  with  them,  and  though  exiled  and  expatriated 
they  belong  to  old  England  still.  So  it  is,  sir,  with  some  of 
us  who  find  ourselves  coming  back  here  with  no  home  to 
visit ;  the  old  places  in  the  possession  of  strangers  ;  no  rights 
here  in  property ;  the  families  scattered,  yet  this  dear  old 
town  still  is  and  ever  will  be  our  home. 

It  is  good  to  come  up  to  Zion  on  this  anniversary  day  to 
recall  the  scenes  of  the  past ;  to  recall  the  faces  and  the 
names  that  had  almost  faded  from  memory ;  to  recall  the 
history  of  this  old  and  honored  Church,  of  its  pastors,  of  its 
deacons,  of  its  members.  It  is  good  for  each  of  us  to  come 
back  to  the  beginning  of  things;  to  trace  back  the  roots 
of  our  lives  to  their  sources  and  to  find  them  fed  from  deep 
and  hidden  springs  among  these  hills.  It  is  good  for  us  to 


10  ANNIVERSARY   OF   THE 

see  what  influences  helped  shape  us  and  to  ask  whether  we 
have  been  faithful  to  our  early  teachings  and  vows. 

Thomas  Arnold  of  Eugby  has  said  that  when  boys  have 
graduated  from  school,  and  have  passed  on  into  earnest  life, 
that  however  much  they  may  have  been  neglected  or  abused, 
however  distasteful  their  school  life  may  have  been  at  the 
time  of  it,  they  will  love  to  revisit  the  scenes  of  their  youth, 
and  they  will  remember  with  only  gratitude  all  that  was 
done  for  them.  So  does  it  seem  to  us  all ;  out  of  whatever 
divergent  paths  we  come  back  to  this  one  place  where  we 
were  wont  to  meet  on  Sabbath  days.  This  place  to  which, 
perhaps,  some  of  us  did  not  come  so  willingly  and  so  thank- 
fully as  we  come  this  morning. 

And,  oh.  what  a  charm  memory  has,  to  touch  with  her 
magic  wand  scenes  long  past,  and  make  them  present  once 
more — to  touch  the  graves  on  yonder  hill  side,  and  make 
them  give  up  their  dead,  to  lead  them  in  long  procession,  so 
that  they  shall  walk  these  aisles  once  more,  and  sit  here 
before  us  in  their  old  places,  with  their  old  familiar  look,  to 
sing  and  pray,  and  listen  and  sleep,  as  they  used  to  do  in 
those  far  off  days.  What  a  power  has  memory  that  she  can 
touch  this  comely  sanctuary  as  it  is  to-day  with  its  new- 
fangled fresco  and  organ,  with  its  modern  pulpit  and  pews, 
and  convert  them  into  that  old  meeting-house  of  five  and 
thirty  years  ago,  so  dear  and  familiar  to  some  of  us,  with  its 
plain  walls  and  lofty  pulpit,  with  its  majestic  sounding-board 
above  it,  and  the  square,  straight-back  pews,  and  the  lofty 
galleries  with  that  tremendous  choir,  fiddle,  base-viol  and  all ! 

I  say  for  myself  (and  I  am  sure  I  am  uttering  the  senti- 
ments of  all  these  boys  and  girls,  young  and  old,  who  have 
returned  here  that  they  might  join  in  these  festivities),  if  we 
have  reaped  any  success  in  life,  if  at  the  bar  or  in  the  pulpit, 
if  as  teachers,  if  as  men  of  business  and  cares,  we  have  been 
or  are  being  useful  in  our  generation,  it  is  one  of  the  greatest 
pleasures  we  have,  to  claim  this  dear  old  town  as  our  native 
place,  and  this  Church,  where  our  fathers  worshipped,  as  the 
hallowed  spot  where  those  good  men  that  are  gone  sprinkled 
us  in  holy  baptism  and  taught  us  in  the  way  of  life,  where 


WILTOX    CONGREGATIONAL   CHURCH.  11 

we  had  our  first  thoughts  of  God  and  of  eternity,  where  many 
of  us,  in  the  enthusiasm  of  early  youth,  consecrated  ourselves 
to  (rod  and  our  generation. 

It  is  with  feelings  of  pride,  pardonable  on  this  memorial 
day,  that  we  recall  the  honorable  names  of  both  living  and 
dead,  of  both  men  and  women,  who  have  gone  from  this 
Church.  More  than  a  score  of  them  have  passed,  and  some  of 
them  with  high  honors,  through  collegiate  and  professional 
study ;  one  of  them  has  a  name  conspicuous  not  only  in  our 
own  land  and  in  this  century,  but  conspicuous  throughout 
all  lands  where  the  Bible  is  studied.  I  am  reminded  here 
of  an  incident  of  this  distinguished  scholar,  Professor  Moses 
Stuart,  told  me  recently  by  one  who  heard  it,  that  after 
preaching  in  this  Church  two  or  three  Sabbaths  during  a 
vacation,  as  he  often  did  to  the  delight  of  the  people,  the 
Pastor  said,  just  before  his  sermon  on  the  following  Sabbath: 
"  My  dear  people,  you  have  had  one  of  your  distinguished 
sons  to  preach,  for  a  few  times,  most  remarkable  sermons ; 
you  must  now  be  content  to  put  up  with  more  common 
fare."  And  I  would  not  forget  the  many  distinguished  men 
who  were  here  in  preparatory  study ;  some  of  them  we  are 
glad  to  see  present  to-day,  who  were  earnest  helpers  in  this 
Church,  and  whose  memories  are  yet  fragrant. 

But  I  must  not  continue  these  thoughts,  but  leave  them 
for  others  who  are  to  follow  me.  Allow  me  to  say  in  closing, 
that  this  day  is  one  of  peculiar  joy  to  us  boys  and  girls  who 
return  here,  and  we  wish  to  thank  you  all  for  your  very  kind 
greetings.  But  to  some  of  us  there  are  sad  thoughts  as 
we  return  to  find  voices  that  welcomed  in  the  past,  now 
hushed  in  death,  and  hands  that  used  to  grasp  ours  in  wel- 
come, now  forever  still.  We  find  strangers  living  where  we 
used  to  dwell;  only  let  us  resolve  as  we  go  hence,  that 
we  will  teach  our  children  the  principles  that  were  taught 
us,  and  that  we  will  train  them,  as  we  were  traineJ,  for  use- 
fulness on  earth  and  for  happiness  in  heaven  ;  so  that  the 
lives  of  those  who  have  gone  before  will  be  perpetuated  in 
the  generations  that  are  to  follow. 

I  would  close  with  the  following  sentiment :    This  day  of 


12  ANNIVERSARY   OF   THE 

June,  auspiciously  one  of  the  longest  of  the  year,  with  a 
profusion  of  flowers  and  evergreens ;  may  it  be  to  this 
Church  the  symbol  and  the  prophecy  of  a  long  day  of  un- 
fading beauty  and  blessedness — the  beauty  of  holiness — the 
blessedness  of  usefulness ;  and  when  it  at  last  closes,  to  close 
only  to  open  into  the  brightness  of  the  eternal  morning, 
where  gladder  bells  shall  usher  in  the  day. 

The  following  Hymn,  composed  for  the  occasion  by  Miss 
ELIZABETH  STUART  PHELPS,  granddaughter  of  Prof.  Moses 
Stuart,  a  native  of  Wilton,  was  then  sung  by  the  Choir: 

God  of  the  centuries !  who  art 
The  Home  of  every  homeless  heart, 
The  Wisdom  to  our  foolishness, 
The  Rest  of  all  our  weariness. 

We  are  too  dull  to  understand 
The  gentle  pressure  of  Thy  hand ; 
Too  blind  to  see  (or  cold  to  try) 
The  light  of  love  within  Thine  eye. 

Lost  children  in  the  mystery 
That  darkens  'twixt  our  souls  and  Thee, 
We  join  our  trembling  hands  and  cry, 
"  Show  Thyself  to  us,  or  we  die !" 

In  the  dim  thicket  called  Thy  Church 
We  grope  for  Thee — 0  !  to  our  search 
Be  growing  Light.     While  weak  we  roam, 
Be  Strength,  be  Hope,  be  Love,  be  Home. 

We  bless  the  gloom  in  which  Thou  art, 
We  hear  the  beatings  of  Thy  heart — 
Across  the  shadow  tortuous, 
Oh,  God !  we  know  it  beats  for  us. 

O !  clasp  us  to  it ! — hold  us  there ! 
Till  some  glad  day  the  dawn  breaks  fair, 
Till  on  the  sweet  far  plains  it  fall, 
And  Truth  for  one  is  Truth  for  all. 


WILTON   CONGREGATIONAL   CHURCH.  13 

The  CHAIRMAN — We  have  reached  the  point  of  chief 
interest  in  our  Anniversary  proceedings.  The  Historical 
Address  will  now  be  delivered  by  a  gentleman  born  in  this 
town,  taught  in  its  schools,  and  early  connected  with  this 
Church — the  Rev.  SAMUEL  GK  WILLARD.  Although  he,  at 
the  present  time,  ministers  to  a  people  in  a  remote  part  of  the 
State  (Colchester),  yet  neither  distance  nor  absence  has 
weakened  his  affection  for  this  place  and  this  Church. 

HISTORICAL  ADDRESS. 

THE  words  of  the  Psalmist  that  may  fitly  introduce  the 
outline  of  a  History  of  this  Church,  which  its  Committee  have 
invited  me  to  prepare  for  this  the  One  Hundred  and  Fiftieth 
Anniversary  of  its  Organization,  may  be  found  in  the  first  verse 
of  the  forty-fourth  Psalm  : 

"  WE  HAVE  HEARD  WITH  OUK  EAKS,  O  GoD  ! 
OUR  FATHEBS  HAVE  TOLD  US, 
WHAT  WORK  THOU  DIDST  IN  THEIR  DATS, 
IN  THE  TIMES  OF  OLD." — Psalm4A:  1. 

The  hopeful  face  of  youth  is  towards  the  future,  the  eye 
of  age  scans  pensively  the  past.  Youth  sees  in  mementoes  of 
departed  years  gray  hairs,  wrinkles,  decrepitude,  and  the 
gloom  of  the  grave,  while  the  days  to  come  are  spanned  by 
the  bow  of  promise,  and  scarcely  darkened  save  by  the 
shadows  of  coming  achievements.  Age  sees  in  the  same  di- 
rection dubious  pleasures,  and  certain  sorrow ;  but  in  the 
past,  treasures  of  experience  and  of  wisdom ;  worthy  to  be 
diligently  sought  out. 

To  the  young  the  reminiscences  of  their  grandparents  are 
often  without  interest.  But  in  later  life,  they  may  vainly  re- 
gret the  lost  opportunity  to  learn  from  lips  which  death  long 
ago  sealed.  v 

The  people  of  New  England,  in  the  vigorous  youth  of  the 
nation,  were  for  two  centuries  or  more  so  intensely  occupied 
with  the  difficulties  of  laying  the  foundations  of  government, 
and  in  maintaining  liberty,  civil  and  religious,  that  they  had 
scanty  opportunity  to  record  their  deeds.  But  in  the  last 


14  ANNIVERSARY   OF  THE 

generation,  a  desire  to  know  who  and  what  those  brave  and 
wise  men  were,  has  stimulated  a  search  among  the  memo- 
rials of  their  lives,  which  time  has  spared. 

The  anniversary  of  a  settlement  of  a  town,  or  of  the  organ- 
ization of  a  church,  has  been  made  the  occasion  to  revive,  for 
the  satisfaction  of  the  living  and  the  instruction  of  those  that 
may  succeed  them,  the  worthy  deeds  of  the  founders  and  of 
their  successors. 

Twenty-five  years  ago,  the  Two  Hundredth  Anniversary 
of  the  settlement  of  Norwalk,  of  which  Wilton  was  for  above 
one  hundred  and  fifty  years  a  part,  was  duly  celebrated,  and 
a  Historical  Discourse  delivered,  by  Rev.  Nathaniel  Bouton, 
D.D.,  of  Concord,  New  Hampshire,  who  was  a  native  of  Nor- 
walk, and  who,  by  his  presence,  honors  this  occasion.  Four 
years  earlier,  Rev.  Edwin  Hall,  D.D.,  then  pastor  of  the 
First  Church  in  Norwalk,  and  now  Emeritus  Professor  of 
Theology  in  the  Seminary  at  Auburn,  N.  Y.,  had  laid  the 
people  of  Norwalk  and  vicinity  under  lasting  obligations,  by 
diligently  copying  out  and  publishing,  town,  society  and  other 
ancient  records. 

Seventy -five  years  younger  than  the  honored  mother,  this 
Church,  to-day,  in  the  maturity  of  her  powers,  but  without  a 
gray  lock  or  a  furrow  of  care,  glowing  with  youth  and  beauty 
whch  we  fondly  believe  may  be  immortal,  calls  her  chil- 
dren to  rejoice  with  her,  that  the  Heavenly  Father  has  brought 
her  prosperously  to  the  end  of  the  third  half  century  of  her 
existence. 

As  the  parish  was  for  three-quarters  of  a  century  in  its 
boundaries  nearly  identical  with  the  town  that  now  is,  a  full 
history  of  the  Church  for  that  period  would  include  a  history 
of  the  town.  But  as  this  is  the  Anniversary  of  the  organiza- 
tion of  the  Church  and  not  of  the  Town,  much  that  would 
belong  to  a  history  of  the  latter,  must  needs  be  omitted. 

The  period  under  review  is,  in  one  aspect,  not  long  ;  for 
there  are  those  now  members  of  the  Church  whose  grand- 
parents were  living  at  its  beginning.  Possibly  there  may  be 
some  here,  who  have  spoken  with  one  or  more  individuals 
who  were  living  at  that  time. 


WILTON   CONGREGATIONAL   CHURCH.  15 

And  yet  the  materials  for  a  history  of  this  sort,  so  far  as 
known,  are  not  abundant.  The  pious  care  of  the  second 
minister,  and  of  some  of  his  successors  in  office,  the  more  or 
less  imperfect  records  of  the  Ecclesiastical  Society,  are  the 
chief,  direct  and  original  contributions  to  this  history  in  the 
possession  of  the  Church  and  Society.  From  the  records  of 
Norwalk,  from  old  account  books,  letters  and  manuscripts 
hid  away  in  old  attics,  much,  no  doubt,  might  be  gleaned. 
And  there  should  be  letters  in  the  hands  of  descendants  of 
Wilton  families,  whose  residence  is  in  some  other  place,  letters 
dating,  some  of  them  at  least,  a  hundred  years  back,  which 
would  furnish  most  interesting  information.  Mr.  Philip  Betts 
made,  nearly  twenty  years  since,  an  abstract  of  the  Society  re- 
cords and  of  a  portion  of  the  Church  records,  which  I  have 
been  permitted  to  consult  in  the  preparation  of  this  discourse. 
The  original  records — except  notes  from  the  earlier  portion, 
made  sixteen  or  seventeen  years  since  in  summer  vacations — 
have  not  been  in  my  reach  during  the  short  interval  allowed 
for  the  work. 

At  the  outset,  a  brief  notice  of  the  settlement  of  this  town 
may  claim  attention. 

From  the  time  of  the  founding  of  New  Haven  in  1638  un- 
til 1690,  most  of  the  towns  organized,  in  what  is  now  Connec- 
ticut, unless  near  Hartford,  were  on  the  shore  of  the  sound. 
As  the  inhabitants  increased,  the  disposition  to  emigrate, 
which  continues  to  this  day,  was  seen.  After  the  death  of 
Philip  (in  1676)  released  the  people  from  the  fear  of  Indian 
violence,  they  began  to  push  northward.  Between  1690  and 
1725,  a  considerable  number  of  townships  were  formed  ad- 
joining the  shore  towns  on  the  north.  Some  time  during 
this  period,  lands  were  taken  up  and  houses  built  in  what  is 
now  Wilton.  Tradition  says  that  the  house  in  Norwalk,  near 
the  Wilton  line,  known  as  the  Odell  place,  was  built  over  two 
hundred  years  ago  by  a  Mr.  Whitney,  and  that  a  house  in 
Cranberry  Plain  built  by  a  Mr.  Gregory  is  somewhat  older. 
The  first  house  south  of  the  Kent  school-house  is  reported 
to  be  about  as  old.*  Another  tradition  has  it,  that  the  house 

*  Charles  M.  Gregory,  Norwalk. 


16  ANNIVERSARY   OF  THE 

north  of  the  school-house,  across  the  street,  formerly  occupied 
by  Rev.  Mr.  Gaylord,  was  raised  on  the  same  day.  These  tra- 
ditions may  be  accepted  for  what  they  are  worth.  In  1685, 
eight  families,  all  from  Norwalk,  save  one  from  Stratford,  be- 
gan the  settlement  of  Daribury,  and  in  1708  a  company  of 
Norwalk  men  purchased  land  and  began  to  settle  Ridgefield. 
A  committee  was  appointed  in  1713  to  lay  out  a  highway 
from  Norwalk  thither.  In  1725  the  inhabitants  in  Kent,  Bel- 
den's  Hill  and  Chestnut  were  sufficiently  numerous  to  ask  to 
be  made  a  separate  parish.  It  is  therefore  highly  probable 
that  houses  began  to  be  built  in  Wilton  at  least  as  early  as  in 
Ridgefield,  and  probably  as  early  as  1701.  The  style  of 
building  is  seen  in  the  houses  already  named.  A  common, 
not  invariable,  fashion,  was  the  two  story  front,  the  second 
story  in  some  cases  projecting  beyond  the  first ;  the  rear  roof 
extending  within  six  feet  of  the  ground ;  the  large  stone 
chimney  in  the  center  with  its  wide  fire-place,  the  house  set 
without  regard  to  the  road,  so  as  to  indicate  the  four  points  of 
the  compass,  the  door  nearest  the  street  midway  between  the 
ends  of  the  house,  window  frames  hardly  more  than  twenty- 
eight  by  forty  inches,  and  window  glass  seven  inches  by  nine, 
the  whole  undisguised  by  paint  out  of  doors  or  in. 

The  first  public  movement  to  form  a  separate  parish  was 
December  7, 1725,  when  the  town  of  Norwalk  which  was  then 
co-terminous  with  the  Ecclesiastical  Society :  "  by  a  major 
vote,  signified  their  willingness  that  the  inhabitants  of  Kent, 
Belden's  Hill  and  Chestnut  Hill,  and  so  upwards,  become  a 
parish  or  village  by  themselves."  At  the  same  meeting  a 
committee  was  appointed  "  to  joyne  with  a  committee  from 
ye  said  inhabitants,  in  viewing  where  ye  bounds  may  be  best 
fixt  for  ye  said  upper  village,  and  make  a  report  to  ye  town 
of  their  opinion."  The  little  brook  at  the  lower  end  of  Kent 
formed  a  convenient  starting  point  from  which  the  com- 
mittees proceeded  east  and  west,  and  fixed  the  bounds  sub- 
stantially where  the  present  bounds  of  the  town  are,  the 
eastern  boundary  excepted. 

This  period  was  an  era  in  the  history  of  Norwalk.  A  new 
town  house  or  the  enlargement  of  the  school-house  for  town 


WILTON   CONGREGATIONAL   CHURCH.  17 

meetings  must  be  made ;  town  meetings  must  no  longer  be 
held  in  the  house  of  worship ;  a  number  of  persons  are  peace- 
fully allowed  to  draw  off  to  the  Church  of  England,"*  and  at 
the  same  time — there  was  serious  difficulty  on  account  of  the 
minister,  Rev.  Stephen  Buckingham,  by  reason  of  some  irreg- 
ularities in  his  conduct  (the  temperance  reformation  had  not 
then  begun),  which  difficulties  perhaps  hastened  the  formation 
of  the  Episcopal  Society.  An  Ecclesiastical  Council  was  called 
to  give  advice.  In  the  end  Mr.  Buckingham  resigned  and 
Eev.  Mo-es  Dickinson  was  installed  in  1727.  f 

There  were  thirty-one  petitioners  to  the  General  Assembly 
in  Hartford,  that  the  parish  might  be  constituted.  Most  of 
the  names  are,  or  were  within  the  memory  of  persons  now 
living,  still  found  in  this  town.  The  Act  of  incorporation 
was  passed  May  12th,  1726.  So  far  as  I  know,  the  name 
Wilton,  so  euphonious  and  often  admired  by  its  people,  first 
appears — in  this  connection — in  the  petition  to  the  General 
Assembly,  and  was  adopted  by  that  body.  Whence  the  name 
came,  we  can  only  conjecture.  When  the  genealogical  regis- 
ter of  each  of  the  families  of  the  petitioners  shall  have  been 
made,  it  may  be  found  that  one  or  more  of  them  was  descend- 
ed from  a  family  in  Wilton,  Wiltshire,  England,  a  place  of 
much  importance  even  eleven  hundred  years  ago.  £ 

The  Prime  Ancient  Society  of  Norwalk  was  disposed  to 
deal  generously  with  the  new  parish.  February  28th,  1726, 
it  voted  "  to  the  inhabitants  of  ye  upper  Society,  the  old  pul- 
pit upon  free  gift,"  and  the  next  February  it  voted  that  the 
Proprietors  in  Norwalk  grant  them  ten  acres  of  land  for  "  the 
use  of  ye  Presbyterian  or  Congregational  Ministry  among  them 
forever."  Two  years  later  five  acres  more  were  given.  The 
harmony  thus  early  existing  between  the  two  parishes  has 
happily  continued  to  this  day. 


*  Prof.  Kingsley,  of  Yale  College,  says  that  at  this  time  there  were  in  Connecticut 
only  two  or  three  congregationsbf  Episcopalians,  and  two  of  Baptists,  all  small;  no  con- 
gregation of  Quakers. — Hall's  Norwalk,  p.  157. 

t  Webster's  History  of  Presbyterian  Church,  p.  373,  says  the  call  was  voted  August 
19th,  and  the  parish  of  Wilton  concurred  in  the  call  the  next  day. 

$  The  foundation  of  its  famous  Abbey  was  begun  in  773. 


18  ANNIVERSARY   OF   THE 

Whether,  however,  this  Ecclesiastical  Society  was  faithful 
to  its  trust,  when,  in  1754,  it  sold  nine  acres  of  this  parsonage 
land  to  Benjamin  Betts  for  £155  14s.,  old  tenor,  and,  so  far  as 
appears,  used  the  money  for  current  expenses,  is  a  question. 

In  family  affairs,  sometimes  the  bride  is  first  obtained,  and 
she  helps  to  plan  and  build  the  house.  In  the  Christian 
economy,  naturally  the  Church  comes  first,  then  the  Society 
(if  it  is  necessary  to  have  a  Society),  and  the  house  of  worship 
last,  builded  by  the  Church  and  Society.  In  this  case  the 
Society  was  first,  the  arrangements  for  the  Church  edifice  seem 
to  have  come  next,  the  selection  of  a  Pastor  followed,  and  the 
organization  of  the  Church — the  most  important  step  of  all 
— came  after  these. 

It  is  much  to  be  regretted  that  there  is  no  account  of  this 
transaction.  The  Society  records  show  a  meeting  (the  second, 
or  rather  an  adjourned  meeting  of  that  body)  on  the  12th  of 
June,  which  confirmed  the  doings  of  the  meeting  of  June  7th, 
and  appointed  a  committee  to  make  arrangements  with  some 
of  the  neighboring  Pastors,  for  organizing  a  Church  and  secur- 
ing the  settlement  of  Mr.  Sturgeon.  They  voted  to  request 
two  of  the  near  neighboring  Pastors  "  to  attend  and  assist  in 
carrying  on  a  day  of  fasting  and  prayer  amongst  them,  to 
look  to  God  for  guidance  and  direction  in  the  affairs  before 
them,  and  in  a  due  and  suitable  time  to  obtain  the  settling  of 
the  said  Mr.  Sturgeon."  At  the  same  time  Jonathan  Elmer* 
was  chosen  "to  read  the  Psalm  and  John  St.  John  to  set  the 
tune  to  the  Psalm  at  all  times  usual  in  the  public  worship." 
As  we  hear  no  more  of  the  organization  of  the  Church,  but . 
find  it  apparently  organized  on  the  27th  of  June,  though  it  is 
not  mentioned  by  name,  we  may  conjecture  that  event  to 
have  occurred  between  the  Society's  meeting  of  June  14th  and 
June  27th,  and  on  that  day  of  fasting  and  prayer  in  which  the 
two  "  near  neighboring  Pastors,"  according  to  invitation,  were 
present  The  Manual  of  this  Church,  printed  A.  D.  1857, 
says  it  was  organized  "about  the  20th  of  June."  But  as  the 


*  The  Elmers  seem  to  have  been  earlier  in  Fairfleld.  Jonathan  Elmer,  Yale  Col- 
lege, 1747,  was  ordained  Pastor,  New  Providence,  New  Jersey,  1750,  and  remained  43 
years  ;  he  died  June  7,  1807.  -Webster,  page  608. 


t  WILTON   CONGREGATIONAL   CHURCH.  19 

20th  of  June  that  year  was  Monday,  and  therefore  a  less  con- 
venient day  than  Wednesday,  the  22d,  we  may  perhaps  be 
permitted  to  assume  that  on  this  latter  day,  just  one  hundred 
and  fifty  years  ago,  this  Church  began  to  be.  As  the  Say- 
brook  Platform  and  Confession  was  then  eighteen  years  old, 
and  fully  accepted  by  the  neighboring  Churches,  we  may  sup- 
pose that  the  form  of  organization  and  the  creed  of  the  Church 
were  easily  arranged. 

The  difficulty  of  procuring  a  Pastor,  as  already  stated,  was 
soon  overcome.  June  7th  the  Society  elected  Richard 
Bouton,  clerk,  and  voted  unanimously  to  call  Eev.  ROBERT 
STURGEON  to  officiate  in  the  work  of  the  ministry  amongst 
them,  and  fixed  his  salary  at  "  ninety  pounds,  paramount  or 
equivalent  to  good  bills  of  credit  of  the  Colony  of  Connecti- 
cut, or  other  good  bills  of  credit,  passing  current  at  the  re- 
spective times  of  payment,"  and  "a  full  supply  of  firewood  for 
his  family's  use,"  *  *  "to  be  brought  to  his  habitation  from 
time  to  time  as  is  needed."  Five  acres  of  land  were  also  grant- 
ed for  a  "  house  lot.'' 

Mr.  Sturgeon  had  not  been  long  in  this  country,  and  prob- 
ably reached  Wilton  in  April,  as  his  salary  commenced  the 
14th  of  that  month.  He  was  of  Scotch,  or  probably  of  Scotch- 
Irish,  descent.  After  completing  his  studies  in  his  own  country, 
the  Presbytery,  for  some  reason,  declined  to  give  him  a  license 
to  preach.  On  reaching  New  England,  he  was  approbated  by 
a  Council,  says  a  Presbyterian  writer,*  "greatly  to  the  regret 
of  Cotton  Mather,  who  believed  that  his  conduct  had  justified 
the  Presbytery  in  refusing  a  license."  When  or  by  whom  he 
was  ordained  is  not  clear.  In  the  Society's  record  he  is  called 
Reverend,  and  is  said  to  have  been  installed.  But  an  Associa- 
tion must  license  before  a  Council  could  ordain.  Who  would 
call  a  Council  to  ordain  a  comparative  stranger  as  an  evangelist, 
in  those  days  when  ordination  and  installation  almost  always 
went  together,  is  not  apparent.  Much  to  our  regret,  there  is 
no  Church  record  prior  to  Mr.  Gay  lord's  settlement.  The 
time  and  place  of  Mr.  Sturgeon's  ordination  remain  to  be  dis- 


*  Webster,  page  492. 


20  ANNIVERSARY   OF  THE  1 

covered.  At  a  meeting  of  the  Society,  June  27th,  the  Mon- 
day following  the  supposed  organization  of  the  Church,  Mr. 
Sturgeon  appeared  in  the  meeting  of  the  Society  and  formally 
accepted  the  call.  Wednesday,  July  20th,  was  fixed  upon  for 
the  installation.  The  Committee,  appointed  to  make  arrange- 
ments for  the  Council,  consisted  of  Messrs.  James  Trowbridge, 
Joseph  Birchard,  Jonathan  Elmer,  Nathaniel  Ketchum,  John 
Taylor,  Matthew  St  John,  and  David  Lambert.  John  Tay- 
lor and  David  Lambert  were  appointed  "  to  provide  for  and 
entertain  the  Ministers  and  Messengers  at  the  time  of  the  In- 
stallment, "  and  three  months  after  were  voted  three  pounds 
ten  shillings  for  this  service.  The  installation  doubtless  oc- 
curred on  the  day  appointed. 

It  was  a  busy  year.  A  house  of  worship  must,  if  possible, 
be  completed  before  winter.  A  house  must  be  provided  for 
the  Pastor.  Next  Spring  a  military  company  must  be  organ- 
ized, so  that  men  need  not  go  to  Norwalk  to  drill.  Highways, 
especially  those  leading  to  the  Meeting-House,  must  be  put  in 
order ;  perhaps  some  new  ones  opened,  and  this  with  as  little 
cost  as  possible  to  the  Society.  One  or  two  pounds  for  stray 
cattle  must  be  provided.  A  tavern  is  needed,  and  in  Sep- 
tember, 1727,  David  Lambert  is  chosen  "taverner." 

The  site  chosen  for  the  Meeting-House  was  on  the  south 
side  of  the  upper  road  leading  from  Kent  to  Belden's  Hill, 
near  the  present  railroad  track.  This  was  then  near  the  geo- 
graphical center  of  the  population.  The  dimensions  of  the 
building  are  not  given.  As  no  vote  to  erect  it  is  recorded, 
the  work  was  probably  begun  before  the  Society  was  organ- 
ized. The  burying-yard  shall  be  near  the  Meeting-House,  for 
we  do  not  dream  of  a  railroad  and  steam  carriages  plowing 
through  it,  as  happened  in  1851.  The  30th  of  September  the 
Society  voted  "  that  they  would  have  their  Meeting-House 
rectified  by  laying  the  floor,  and  by  plastering  the  walls,  and 
by  making  comfortable  seats  to  set  in."  John  Keeler  and 
John  St,  John  were  appointed  to  get  this  work  done.  Dea- 
con Hickok,  Richard  Bouton,  John  Dunning,  John  Stuart 
and  Matthew  St  John  were  appointed  "  to  search  out  and 
agree  for  a  convenient  piece  of  land  for  an  house  lot"  for  the 


WILTON   CONGREGATIONAL   CHURCH.  21 

Pastor.  Matthew  St.  John  was  appointed  a  Committee  on 
Meeting-House  expenses. 

It  was  thought  that  the  General  Assembly  might,  in  con- 
sideration of  these  heavy  burdens,  abate  the  taxes  of  the 
Members  of  the  Society  for  that  year,  and  a  committee  was 
appointed  in  vain  to  look  after  the  matter. 

The  work  of  finishing  the  Meeting-House  made  good 
progress.  On  the  30th  of  November,  in  accordance  with  the 
custom  of  those  days,  the  Society  voted  "  to  seat  it,"  and  ap- 
pointed a  committee  of  three  to  "  seat  it  by  list  and  age,  ac- 
cording to  the  best  of  their  judgment."  A  delicate  task  which 
doubtless  occasioned  a  good  many  heart-burnings.  But  in 
some  form  the  plan  was  continued  more  than  half  a  century 
longer.  The  order  of  seating  nearly  one  hundred  years  ago 
has  been  preserved.  Seven  years  later,  in  1733,  it  was  voted 
that  John  St.  John  should  sit  with  Deacon  Elmer  "  so  long 
as  he  sets  ye  tune." 

The  matter  of  the  Pastor's  firewood  must  now  be  attended 
to ;  he  has  perhaps  suffered  in  this  winter  weather.  On  the 
20th  of  December  the  Society  "voted  that  every  man  shall  bring 
unto  the  Reverend  Mr.  Sturgeon  a  load  of  wood  within  four- 
teen days,"  and  that  any  man  who  failed,  should  forfeit  three 
shillings.  How  much  wood  this  vote  secured  is  not  mention- 
ed, but  we  fear  that  some  men  did  not  regard  it,  for  the 
next  December,  A.  D.,  1727,  it  was  voted  that  those  who  car- 
ried wood  should  have  three  shillings  a  load  for  good  walnut, 
and  two  shillings  and  sixpence  a  load  for  good  oak  wood. 
The  next  December,  1723,  it  was  voted  to  give  Ebenezer 
Jackson  nine  pounds  to  furnish  a  sufficient  supply  of  wood 
for  Mr.  Sturgeon,  for  the  ensuing  year.  In  February,  1730, 
it  was  voted  that  Mr.  Sturgeon  should  have  twenty-eight  cords 
of  wood  annually.  Here  is  something  definite — better  than 
glittering  generalities,  and  yet  some  carper  may  say :  ''  oak, 
hickory  or  chestnut?  "  and,  "  who  is  to  bring  it  ?  " 

The  necessity  of  a  school  was  soon  felt.  In  Decem- 
ber, 1728,  the  Ecclesiastical  Society  appointed  Lieutenant 
Ketchum,  Joseph  Birchard  and  Ensign  St.  John  "  a 
Committee  to  set  up  a  school  or  schools  in  the  parish."  It 


22  ANNIVEKSARY   OF  THE 

was  voted  to  hire  Mr.  Sturgeon  to  teach  ;  also  to  use  the 
"  country  money,"  as  far  as  it  would  go,  and  to  require  the 
scholars  to  make  up  the  deficiency.  Sixteen  months  later  the 
parish  was  divided  into  three  districts;  Kent  and  Chestnut 
Hill  formed  one;  Belden's  Hill  as  far  as  James  Stuart's,  a 
second  ;  and  "  Pimpewalk"  a  third,  each  of  which  should  re- 
ceive one  third  of  the  country  money.  The  School  on  Belden's 
Hill  was  to  be  taught  in  June  and  July,  that  in  Pimpewalk, 
in  August  and  September,  and  that  in  Kent  "  so  long  as  their 
part  [of  the  money]  will  come  to."  In  order  to  increase  the 
income  of  the  Society,  it  was  about  this  time  "  voted  to  have 
a  flock  among  them,  if  they  could  get  liberty  from  the  town." 

In  Connecticut,  till  1712,  the  towns  had  sole  charge  of 
school  matters  in  their  own  bounds.  Then  the  parish  or 
Ecclesiastical  Society  (if  that  included  only  a  portion  of  the 
town)  had  the  care  of  their  own  territory.  "In  1750,  towns 
and  societies  were  made  practically  equal  in  conducting 
school  affairs."  In  1798,  and  till  1856,  the  school  society 
alone  (and  since  1856  the  town  alone,  school  societies  having 
been  then  abolished)  administered  school  matters,  except 
such  as  were  specially  committed  to  the  school  district. 

The  law,  from  1700  to  1820,  required  the  towns  to  raise 
by  tax  the -sum  of  forty  shillings  (except  that  from  1754  to 
1767  it  was  less)  on  every  thousand  pounds  of  assessed  prop- 
erty, for  the  use  of  schools  in  the  town.  The  proceeds  of 
this  tax  were  known  as  "country  money." 

There  were  frequent  votes  respecting  the  schools.  In  Jan- 
uary, 1792,  the  parish  was  divided  into  nine  school  districts. 
These  were  No.  1,  Nod ;  No.  2,  Bald  Hill ;  No.  3,  Middle- 
brook  District ;  No.  4,  Drum  Hill ;  [Center  District]  ;  No.  6, 
Kent;  No.  7,  Pimpewaug;  No.  8,  Chestnut  Hill;  No.  9, 
Harry's  Ridge.  The  Kent  school-house  stood  in  the  triangle 
east  of  the  Danbury  road,  and  south  of  the  "Old  Burying- 
Ground"  (as  was  customary),  near  the  Meeting-House.^ 

After  a  time  dissatisfaction  with  the  "life  and  conversa- 
tion "  of  Mr.  Sturgeon  so  increased,  that  the  Church  consulted 

*  The  tradition  that  it  was  once  just  north  of  the  present  Episcopal  Church  is,  prob- 
ably, not  authentic. 


WILTON   CONGREGATIONAL   CHURCH.  23 

the  Association  which  met  at  Eipton  (now  Huntington),  in 
November,  1731,  and  was  advised  to  call  a  Council.  This 
was  agreed  to  in  December.  By  Committee,  an  understand- 
ing with  Mr.  Sturgeon  was  reached  ;  but  to  complete  the 
arrangement  the  Society's  meeting  adjourned  to  the  last  day 
of  December,  "at  ye  sun  one  hour  high  at  night."  "Was 
that  hour  named  to  insure  punctuality  ? 

There  is  no  record  of  the  dismission  of  Mr.  Sturgeon  ;  but 
as  the  Society  held  a  meeting  in  April,  1732,  to  adopt  meas- 
ures to  obtain  a  minister,  we  may  infer  that  the  pastorate  of 
Mr.  Sturgeon  ended  the  first  of  that  month. 

Not  much  has  come  to  us  of  the  personal  appearance  of 
Mr.  Sturgeon,  or  of  his  sayings  and  doings.  That  he  was 
able  readily  to  find  a  text  for  a  sermon  is  suggested  in  the 
tradition,  that  on  the  day  of  the  arrival  of  his  family,  he 
preached  from  the  words,  "  We  have  seen  strange  things 
to-day."  There  was  evidently  something  in  his  manner  of 
life  and  way  of  doing  things  that  after  a  time  made  him  un- 
acceptable to  the  majority  of  his  parishioners ;  but  as  they 
made  no  charges  against  him  before  the  Council,  we  are  per- 
mitted to  believe  that  a  lack  of  judgment,  rather  than  any 
positive  wrong-doing,  led  to  his  dismission.  There  is  the 
more  reason  for  this  view,  since  he  was  afterwards  connected 
with  the  Presbyterian  Church,  and  settled  for  ten  or  twelve 
years,  not  very  far  from  here,  in  Bedford,  New  York.*  As 
a  member  of  the  Presbytery  of  New  York,  he  was  present  at 
a  meeting  of  the  Synod  in  1745.  His  name  is  not  found 
in  that  connection  after  A.D.  1750.  William  Sturgeon,  sup- 
posed to  be  a  son  of  Kev.  Robert  Sturgeon,  graduated  at 
Yale,  in  the  class  of  1745,  standing  fourth  in  honor;  and, 
having  crossed  the  ocean,  was  ordained,  in  1746,  first  deacon, 
and  then  priest,  in  the  Church  of  England.  He  became 
assistant  minister  in  Christ  Church,  Philadelphia,  where  he 
remained  till  1766.  He  died  in  1770. 

The  Society,  April  llth,  1732,  chose  Deacons  Trowbridge 
and  Hickok  and  Jonathan  Elmer  a  Committee  "  to  advise 


*  Webgter'8  History  of  the  Presbyterian  Church,  page  492. 


24  ANNIVERSARY   OF   THE 

with  ye  Reverend  ministers  where  to  go  for  a  minister,  and 
empowered  them  to  go  or  send  for  a  minister  at  the  cost  of 
the  Society." 

They  soon  found  Mr.  William  Gaylord,  a  graduate  of  Yale 
College  in  1730,  a  licentiate  of  Hartford  North  Association, 
who  was  born  November  29th,  1709,  the  son  of  Dea. 
William  and  Hopey  Butler  Gaylord,  of  "  the  West  Division," 
in  Hartford,  now  known  as  West  Hartford.  Mr.  Gaylord 
was  the  great-grandson  of  that  Dea.  William  Gaylord  who 
came  from  England  to  Dorchester,  Mass ,  in  1631.  The 
Church  of  which  he  was  Deacon  was  organized  in  Plymouth, 
England,  January,  1630;  and  after  remaining  five  years  at 
Dorchester,  it  removed  to  Windsor,  Conn.,  with  its  pastor, 
Rev.  Mr.  Warham,  in  September,  1636.*  The  mother  of 
Mr.  Gaylord  was  the  granddaughter,  or  probably  the  great- 
granddaughter,  of  Rev.  Samuel  Stone,  who  was  minister  of 
the  first  church  in  Hartford  thirty  years,  for  fourteen 
of  which  he  was  the  colleague  of  Rev.  Thomas  Hooker,  the 
first  Pastor.  Mr.  Hooker  died  in  1647,  and  Mr.  Stone  re- 
mained sole  Pastor  sixteen  years  longer.  Mr.  Gaylord  was 
received  to  the  Church,  in  West  Hartford,  in  1729.  After 
as  appears,  three  weeks  of  trial,  Monday,  May  29th,  1732, 
the  Society  invited  Mr.  Gaylord  "to  tarry  with  us  some 
considerable  time."  Having  called  Mr.  Sturgeon  with  too 
little  consideration,  they  would  be  more  circumspect  in 
choosing  a  second  Pastor.  On  Friday  of  the  same  week,  the 
Society  voted  to  give  Mr.  Gaylord  four  pounds  ten  shillings 
for  "preaching  among  us  three  Sabbaths."  Three  months 
later,  August  29th,  the  Society  voted  to  call  Mr.  Gaylord  to 
settle  in  the  work  of  the  Gospel  ministry.  It  was  also 
agreed  to  buy  the  house  and  land  of  Mr.  Sturgeon.  Joseph 
Birchard,  Captain  Ketchum  and  Matthew  St  John  were 
appointed  to  carry  out  the  vote.  The  Church  was  unan- 
imous in  calling  Mr.  Gaylord. 

But  there  was  apparently  some  difficulty  in  Mr.  Gaylord's 
mind  as  to  accepting  the  call.      Possibly,  the  neglect  to  name 


*  Dr.  Hawes  in  Conn.  Eccl.  Col.,  page  86. 


WILTON   CONGREGATIONAL   CHUKCH.  25 

any  salary  embarrassed  him.  Six  weeks  later  a  new  Com- 
mittee were  appointed  "to  treat  with  Mr.  Gaylord  as  to 
terms  of  settlement  and  salary."  November  1st  the  call 
to  settle  is  renewed  by  "a  universal  vote."  Two  weeks  later 
the  Society  voted  that  the  salary  should  be  "four  pence 
half  penny  upon  the  pound  until  four  pence  half  penny 
makes  one  hundred  and  thirty  pounds,  to  be  paid,  either  in 
money  or  in  provisions  at  the  market  price,  and  that  to  be 
a  standing  salary  so  long  as  he  carries  on  the  work  of  the 
ministry  among  us."  Mr.  Gaylord  accepted  the  call,  but  did 
not  accept  the  salary,  and  that  was  afterwards  voted  annually. 

In  accordance  with  a  custom  of  those  days,  which  was 
not  altogether  abandoned  till  about  fifty  years  ago,  the  So- 
ciety also  voted,  as  a  gift,  or  "settlement,"  as  it  was  called, 
two  hundred  pounds.  This  was  to  enable  a  young  minister 
to  purchase  a  house,  land,  furniture,  books,  and  whatever  else 
might  be  needed  to  set  up  housekeeping,  and  carry  on  his 
parish  work,  which  it  was  hoped  and  expected  would 
terminate  only  with  his  life. 

In  Mr.  Gaylord's  case  the  Society  afterwards  voted  to  pre- 
sent him  the  house  and  land  purchased  of  Mr.  Sturgeon,  in 
lieu  of  one  hundred  and  sixty  of  the  two  hundred  pounds 
promised.  But  since  Mr.  Sturgeon  had  left  so  soon,  and  his 
religious  opinions,  perhaps,  were  not  all  in  harmony  with  the 
Westminster  Catechism,  or  at  least  with  the  Saybrook  Plat- 
form ;  and  inasmuch  as  the  Society  could  ill  afford  to  give  a 
new  minister  a  settlement  every  few  years,  it  was  consider- 
ately provided,  "That  if  Mr.  Gaylord  turn  from  ye  opinion 
or  principles  he  now  professes,  contrary  to  ye  mind  of  ye 
Society,  then  he  is  to  return  to  ye  Society  ye  two  hundred 
pounds  again."  In  December  a  salary  "at  the  rate  of  sixty- 
five  pounds  for  ye  year  was  voted."  Two  years  later,  1734, 
the  salary  was  made  for  that  year  one  hundred  pounds,  to  be 
paid  in  money  or  provisions  at  the  market  price. 

The  arrangements  for  the  Pastor's  support  having  been  sat- 
isfactorily made,  preparations  for  the  Ordination  were  In  order. 
The  Council  met  on  the  afternoon  of  the  13th  of  February, 
1733.  The  day  was  short  Some  of  the  members  had 


26  ANNIVERSARY   OF   THE 

ridden,  probably,  on  horseback  twenty  miles.  An  evening 
session  would  not  be  convenient  An  organization  was 
effected  by  choosing  for  Moderator,  Rev.  Thomas  Hawley,  of 
Ridgefield,  who  was  then  in  the  twenty-first  year  of  his 
pastorate ;  and  for  Scribe,  Rev.  Samuel  Cooke,  who  had  been 
Pastor  at  Stratfield  above  seventeen  years.  On  Wednesday 
morning,  February  14th,  the  Council  reassembled.  We  are 
interested  to  know  their  names.  From  Stratfield  (now 
Bridgeport),  with  Mr.  Cooke  came  Capt  David  Sherman ; 
from  Ridgefield,  with  Mr.  Hawley.  Dea.  Thomas  Smith ; 
from  Norwalk,  Rev.  Moses  Dickinson ;  from  Stratford,  Rev. 
Hezekiah  Gold  and  Mr.  Ephraim  Clark;  from  Stamford, 
Rev.  Ebenezer  Wright  and  Lieut.  Samuel  Weed ;  from 
Greenfield,  Rev.  John  Goodsell  and  Mr.  John  Burr;  and 
later  in  the  day,  from  Greensfarms,  Capt.  Thomas  Nash. 
The  lay  delegates  in  the  minutes  are  styled  Messengers. 

A  careful  examination  of  Mr.  Gaylord  followed,  "  as  to  his 
end  in  undertaking  the  ministry,''  and  his  doctrinal  belief,  his 
views  of  Church  polity  and  his  acceptance  of  the  Confession  of 
Faith.  In  these  matters  they  received  "  good  satisfaction. " 
To  the  Saybrook  Platform  Mr.  Gaylord  in  substance  assented. 
The  order  of  Ordination  exercises  was  as  follows :  Mr.  Good- 
sell  made  the  opening  prayer;  Mr.  Hawley  preached;  Mr. 
Cooke  offered  the  ordaining  prayer  ;  Mr.  Dickinson  gave  the 
charge ;  Mr.  Wright  gave  the  Right  Hand.  We  miss  the 
"Address  to  the  People,"  which  was  not  then  customary. 

Three  weeks  before  the  ordination,  Mr.  Gaylord  was  united 
in  marriage  with  Elizabeth  Davenport.  She  was  the  youngest 
daughter  of  the  Rev.  John  Davenport,  the  fourth  Pastor  of 
the  Church  in  Stamford,  where  he  ministered  nearly  thirty- 
seven  years,  till  his  death  in  1731.  He  was  the  only  son  of 
the  only  son  of  that  famous  Rev.  John  Davenport,  who  was 
the  first  Pastor  of  the  first  Church  in  New  Haven,  from  1639 
to  1667,  and  was  one  of  the  Synod  which,  by  the  order  of 
the  General  Court  of  Connecticut,  met  in  1708  at  Saybrook 
and  constructed  the  Saybrook  Platform,  by  which  the  ecclesi- 
astical affairs  of  the  Congregational  Churches,  of  this  and  some 
other  Counties,  are  still  regulated.  Mr.  Davenport  was  one 


WILTON   CONGREGATIONAL   CHURCH.  27 

of  the  most  prominent  and  influential  men  in  Connecticut  in 
that  generation.  His  death  was  spoken  of  as  "  the  removal 
of  one  eminent  for  learning,  and  who  was  a  bulwark  and 
barrier  upon  our  frontiers." 

Fourteen  years  after  her  marriage  Mrs.  Gay  lord  died,  prob- 
ably from  pulmonary  consumption,  leaving  six  children,  and 
having  buried  one.  Her  husband's  eulogy  on  the  Church 
records  is  honorable  to  both.  It  begins  thus  :  "  A  good  God 
has  made  her  a  good  wife  to  me,  both  in  spirituals  and 
temporals,  prudent,  faithful,  loving,  loyal,  and  very  respect- 
ful." Her  oldest  son,  William  Gaylord,  is  said  to  have  lived 
for  a  time  in  West  Hartford,  but  is  mentioned  in  his  father's 
will  as  a  resident  of  New  Hartford. 

We  are  indebted  to  Mr.  Gajlord  for  about  thirty -three 
years  of  well  kept  Church  records,  containing  the  names  of 
the  members  of  the  Church,  and  the  families  of  the  congrega- 
tion with  their  children,  at  the  time  of  his  ordination  ;  the 
members  of  the  Church  in  full  and  by  the  Half -Way  Covenant  J 
a  list  of  marriages,  baptisms  and  deaths,  with '  occasional 
remarks. 

From  this  record  it  appears  that  there  were  on  the  14th  of 
February,  1733,  thirty-five  men  and  forty-one  women  in  full 
communion.  How  many  of  these  were  original  members, 
how  many  had  been  added,  how  many  dismissed  and  died 
during  the  six  and  a  half  preceding  years,  we  have  no  means 
of  knowing.  It  is  worth  noting  that  the  thirty-five  men,  each 
had  a  wife,  though  in  two  cases  the  wife  entered  the  Church 
after  this  date.  The  women,  too,  had  each  a  husband.  Of 
those  who  had  owned  the  covenant,  as  their  half  way  con- 
fession of  faith  was  called,  there  were  ten  men  and  seven 
women.  Of  these  ten,  four  of  the  men  were  without  wives,  or 
else  their  wives  had  refused  to  own  the  covenant  Each  of 
the  seven  women  had  a  husband ;  but  one  of  the  husbands 
was  already  in  full  communion,  and  his  wife  afterwards 
united.  There  are  on  the  list  thirty-two  families,  but  not  a 
widow  or  widower  among  them.  There  is  some  reason  to 
believe  that  the  list  does  not  contain  -all  the  families  in  the 
paHsh.  The  name  of  Dea.  James  Trowbridge  and  of  Dea. 


28  ANNIVERSARY   OF  THE 

Matthew  Gregory  does  not  occur.  Of  the  fifty-one  or  fifty- 
two  husbands  and  wives  enrolled,  only  six  or  seven  couple 
were  neither  of  them  connected  with  the  Church.  Of  chil- 
dren whose  names  are  given  with  their  parents,  there  are  one 
hundred  and  thirty-seven,  of  whom  eighty-seven  were  boys 
and  fifty  girls — a  disproportion  not  too  great  to  meet  the  sad 
waste  of  war  in  the  fifty  years  that  followed.  The  whole 
number  of  names  exceeds  two  hundred. 

As  families  increased,  new  roads  and  bridges  became  ne- 
cessary. In  1735  it  was  voted  to  open  a  highway — where 
probably  there  had  been  only  a  cart-path — to  Buckingham's 
Ridge — which  has  sometimes  been  called  Harry's  Ridge — 
east  of  Hurlbutt  street.  Four  years  later  (December  14th, 
1739)  the  town  is  asked  to  build  a  horse-bridge  across  the 
Norwalk  river,  in  Pimpewaug,  near  Capt.  St.  John's  house, 
to  repair  the  horse-bridge  near  John  Marvin's  dwelling- 
house  in  Kent,  and  to  complete  the  bridge  already  begun  by 
the  Wilton  people  near  the  house  of  Eliakim  Elmer  on  the 
Ridgefield  road.  The  town  votes  to  build  the  Pimpewaug 
and  to  repair  the  Kent  bridge,  but  no  action  as  to  the  other 
bridge  implies,  that  we  are  permitted  to  complete  it  without 
town  aid.  Capt.  Matthew  St.  John  and  Joseph  Platt  are 
appointed  a  Committee  to  build  the  one  and  repair  the  other 
bridge.  Five  years  later  David  Deforest  was  appointed  in  Mr- 
(now  Captain)  Platt's  place.  The  next  year  David  Keeler  is 
chosen  in  the  room  of  Captain  St.  John,  and  the  year  follow- 
ing (1746)  Benjamin  Betts  is  chosen,  in  the  room  of  David 
Keeler,  "  to  take  care  of  ye  bridge  at  Wilton,  near  Lieut. 
John  Marvin's  dwelling-house."  Bridge  building  that  will 
endure  the  rage  of  the  Norwalk  river  in  Spring  freshets  was 
no  child's  play  in  those  days. 

Soon  after  Mr.  Gay  lord's  settlement  a  new  difficulty  arose. 
The  parish  grows.  The  minister  is  popular.  The  Meeting- 
House  is  too  small,  and  not  conveniently  located.  December 
25,  1736,  it  was  voted  to  build  a  new  Meeting-House  forty- 
six  feet  long,  thirty -five  feet  wide,  with  twenty  feet  posts,  to 
be  placed  on  what  in  the  record  is  called  "Sharp  Hill,"  but 
which  for  above  half  a  century  has  now  been  known  as 


WILTON   CONGREGATIONAL   CHURCH.  29 

"the  old  burying-ground."  A  large  oak  yet  marks  the 
spot,  sole  survivor  of  the  trees  and  shrubbery  once  there,  and 
a  silent  sentinel  over  the  graves  of  three  generations.  Mav 
no  woodman's  axe  ever  be  lifted  against  it.  The  want  of 
funds  probably  caused  the  delay  to  build  at  once.  Novem- 
ber 18th,  1737,  it  was  voted  to  build  a  house  forty-eight  by 
thirty-five  feet  and  twenty-two  feet  posts ;  and  also  to  raise 
by  taxes  one  hundred  pounds  for  building  purposes.  Of  the 
land  needed  for  the  site,  John  Marvin,  Sr.,  gave  eight  rods 
square ;  and  seventeen  years  later  (1755)  Richard  Dunning* 
sold  above  half  an  acre,  for  a  burial  place,  for  fifty  pounds, 
old  tenor.  No  plan  of  this  house  is  known  to  exist,  but  the 
vote  was  that  the  front  or  broadside  should  face  the  south. 
In  June,  1739,  David  Keeler  was  appointed  auctioneer  to  sell 
the  old  house.  David  Keeler,  Daniel  Betts  and  Matthew 
Marvin  were  to  receive  one  hundred  and  fifty  pounds  "to  be 
improved  towards  walling  and  glazing  the  Meeting  House  and 
other  things  necessary."  In  December  it  was  voted  that  the 
money  for  which  the  old  Meeting-House  sold  should  be  paid 
to  the  same  Committee,  to  aid  in  finishingi  the  new  house. 
But  it  is  easier  for  us  to  vote  money  than  to  raise  it ;  for  two 
years  later  (December,  1741)  it  is  soon  enough  to  vote  "  that 
in  finishing  their  Meeting-House"  they  "  will  observe  ye  former 
model  that  the  Prime  Ancient  Society  of  Norwalk  hath 
done  in  finishing  theirs,"  and  "  that  the  pews  around  the  body 
of  ye  house  be  six  feet  square."  It  was  not  till  1743,  that 
the  seats  were  in  readiness  to  receive  persons,  in  the  order 
designated  by  the  Committee,  and  not  till  1747  that  the  vote 
was  passed,  by  which  the  galleries  should  be  finished  and  be 
made  of  "good,  white  wood  and  white  oak  boards,"  "with 
one  seat  round  the  front,"  and  "one  tier  of  pews  round  the 
house." 

Meantime  a  wonderful  revival  of  religion  was  going  for- 
ward in  New  England  and  elsewhere,  in  which  Wilton 
shared.  This  awakening  began  in  Northampton,  Mass.,  as 
early  as  1679,  and  recurred  on  several  occasions  afterwards, 


*  Richard  Dunning  is  supposed  to  have  lived  in  the  house  south  of  the  burying- 
ground,  now  occupied  by  Charles  Comstock. 


30  ANNIVERSARY   OF   THE 

and  especially  in  1735,  and  again  in  1740,  under  the  ministry 
of  Jonathan  Edwards.  Two  years  after  the  ordination  of 
Mr.  Gaylord  special  religious  interest  was  manifest  in  Le- 
banon, in  a  part  of  the  town  which  is  now  Columbia ;  the 
Pastor  of  which,  Eev.  Eleazer  Wheelock,  who  was  in  full 
sympathy  with  Mr.  Edwards,  distinguished  himself  greatly 
by  the  abundance  of  his  labors  and  the  power  of  his  preach- 
ing in  Eastern  Connecticut.  Now,  it  happened  that  Mr. 
Wheelock — who  was  some  two  years  younger  than  Mr.  Gay- 
lord,  and  who  became  afterwards  the  founder  and  first 
President  of  Dartmouth  College — married,  in  1735,  the  widow 
Sarah  Maltby,  of  New  Haven,  who  was  a  daughter  of  Rev. 
John  Davenport  and  a  sister  of  Mrs.  Gaylord.*  It  would  be 
most  natural  that  Dr.  Wheelock's  zeal  and  spiritual  activity 
should  be  felt  through  his  Brother  Gaylord  in  Wilton.  Mr. 
Whitfield,  then  on  his  second  visit  to  this  country,  while 
going  from  New  Haven  to  New  York  in  the  Autumn  of 
1740,  preached  in  the  new  unfinished  Meeting-House  in  this 
place.  The  next  two  years  a  considerable  number  was  added 
to  the  Church. 

But  the  revivals  excited  much  bitterness  and  violent  oppo- 
sition in  many  towns.  Their  promoters  were,  in  derision, 
called  the  "New  Lights."  In  some  cases  their  conduct  was 
not  tempered  with  sound  judgment.  But  the  "  Old  Lights  " 
were  sometimes  neither  conciliatory  or  wise,  so  that  in  East- 
ern Connecticut  several  new  Churches,  known  as  "  Separate 
Churches,"  were  formed.  The  feeling  of  opposition  to  the 
revival,  and  especially  to  the  evils  which  seemed  to  attend  it, 
was  so  wide-spread  and  bitter,  that  in  May,  1742,  a  law  was 
passed  forbidding,  under  heavy  penalty,  the  minister  of  one 
parish  to  preach  in  another  parish,  except  upon  invitation  of 
the  minister  thereof.  The  people  of  North  Coventry  had  no 
Pastor,  and  had  not  yet  organized  a  Church.  Therefore,  the 
Society  voted  that  any  one  of  twenty-four  ministers  named 
might,  upon  invitation,  preach  or  exhort  at  any  time  in  that 

*  Another  sister,  Abigail  Davenport,  married  Rev.  Stephen  Williams,  D.D.,  Pastor 
of  the  Church  in  Longmeadpw,  Mass.,  who  was  a  son  of  that  Rev.  John  Williams, 
of  Decrfleld,  that  was  carried  captive  by  the  Indians,  and  was  sixty-six  years  a 
minister. 


WILTON   CONGREGATIONAL   CHURCH.  31 

parish;  and  also  "voted  that  any  Church  member,  or  any 
head  of  family,  may  invite  any  of  the  above  ministers  to 
preach  in  said  Society." 

But  Rev.  Dr.  Pomroy,  of  Hebron — a  near  neighbor  of  Mr. 
Wheelock,  an  eloquent  preacher  and  a  man  of  much  worth 
and  weight  of  character — was  prosecuted  and  fined,  by  the 
loss  of  his  salary  seven  years,  because  he  preached  in  a  grove 
in  Colchester,  without  the  consent  of  the  Pastor,  Mr.  Little, 
who  did  not  belong  to  the  "  New  Lights,"  but  with  whom  he 
had  always  been  on  friendly  terms.  Indeed  he  supposed, 
until  he  reached  Colchester  on  that  occasion,  that  Mr.  Little 
consented  to  his  coming.  The  Wilton  Church  and  its  Pastor 
happily  escaped  these  disturbances,  and  the  Churches  of  this 
County  were  for  the  most  part  exempt  from  the  strife,  which 
the  "Old  Lights,"  who  were  afraid  of  revivals  and  especially 
of  the  fanaticism  they  occasionally  excited,  sometimes  stirred 
up.  The  contention  was  really  between  a  dead  orthodoxy 
and  the  Spirit  of  the  Lord ;  and  the  Pastor  of  this  Church 
and  his  people  were  blessed  by  yielding  to  the  Spirit. 

But  religious  controversy  was  not  the  only  occasion  of 
trouble  and  sorrow  to  our  fathers  of  that  period.  There  was 
war,  and  there  were  rumors  of  war.  In  1739,  while  this 
Society  was  building  the  second  Meeting-House,  the  Colonies 
were  involved  in  a  war  between  Great  Britain  and  her  old 
enemies,  France  and  Spain.  A  military  expedition  was  sent 
to  the  West  Indies.  Six  years  later  Connecticut  and  Massa- 
chusetts contributed  largely  of  men  and  money,  to  an  enter- 
prise which  resulted  in  the  capture,  from  the  French,  of  Cape 
Breton  and  the  strong  fortress  of  Louisburg.  This  provoked 
France  to  equip,  the  next  year,  1746,  a  powerful  fleet,  on 
which  embarked  many  thousand  troops,  with  the  avowed 
design  of  burning  and  laying  waste  New  England.  Against 
such  an  armament  the  Colonies  possessed  no  means  of  suc- 
cessful defence,  and  were  in  great  alarm,  especially  in  Eastern 
Massachusetts.  They  turned,  therefore,  to  Almighty  God  for 
help.  The  answers  tp  their  prayers  were  most  gracious. 
Storms,  the  sickness  of  the  French  troops,  the  suicide  of  the 
First  Admiral  and  afterwards  of  the  Second,  delayed,  scat- 


32  ANNIVERSARY   OF   THE 

tered,  and  rendered  impotent  the  fleet,  so  that  it  returned  in 
ignominy  to  France,  without  ^having  fired  a  gun  against  this 
people.  The  next  year  France  sent  another  expedition, 
which  was  met  and  vanquished  by  an  English  fleet.  But  it 
was  not  till  1748,  when  Great  Britain  and  France  made  peace 
at  Aix-la-Chapelle,  that  the  nine  years  of  anxiety  and  loss 
ended.  Even  then  heavy  taxes  remained,  and  a  depreciated 
currencv.  Until  ]  740  the  bills  or  currency  of  the  Colony, 
known  as  "old  tenor,"  were  based  upon  taxes  levied,  and 
worth  their  face  in  specie.  After  1740  the  increase  of  bills 
to  meet  war  expenses,  without  laying  taxes  sufficient  to  pay 
them,  occasioned  a  serious  depreciation.  Eighty  thousand 
pounds  of  Government  "  promises  to  pay,"  known  as  "  new 
tenor,"  supplemented  by  no  provision  for  paying,  could  no  more 
then  than  now,  supply  the  place  of  gold  and  silver.  Mr. 
Gaylord's  salary  furnishes  an  illustration :  The  first  year  it 
was  sixty-five  pounds;  the  second  one  hundred.  In  1747 
and  1748  it  was  by  vote  four  hundred  pounds.  In  1749  it 
was  five  hundred  pounds  ;  the  next  two  years  six  hundred 
and  fifty  pounds  annually — that  is,  the  currency  had  fallen 
to  one-sixth  or  less  of  its  nominal  value.  In  1751  Parlia- 
ment prohibited  the  Colonies  from  further  issue  of  paper  cur- 
rency, and  gradually  the  bills  were  redeemed.  In  1755  Mr. 
Gaylord's  salary  was  only  fifty-five  pounds,  and  the  next  year 
sixty  pounds,  for  silver  was  again  the  standard.  The  re- 
mainder of  his  ministry  it  ranged  from  fifty  to  seventy-five 
pounds.  It  needs  no  old  journal,  or  letters  from  Pastor  or 
people,  to  persuade  us  that  this  fluctuation  of  the  currency 
caused  much  trouble  and  suffering.  The  catalogue  shows 
that  the  spiritual  interests  of  the  Church  suffered.  The  num- 
ber of  admissions  to  its  communion  was  small  during  those 
years. 

Hardly  had  the  financial  skies  cleared,  when  another  and 
heavier  storm  of  war  burst  upon  the  country,  and  raged  for 
eight  years,  sweeping  away  thousands  of  precious  lives  and 
much  treasure.  This  is  known  as  the  French  and  Indian 
war,  which  was  occasioned  by  the  plan  of  the  French  Govern- 
ment, to  stretch  a  line  of  forts  and  trading  posts,  from  Canada 


WILTON   CONGREGATIONAL   CHURCH.  33 

to  the  mouth  of  the  Mississippi.  By  this  means,  France  de- 
signed to  erect  a  barrier  to  the  growth  of  the  Colonies  westward 
and  southwestward,  and  secure  for  itself  the  Valley  of  the  Miss- 
issippi and  also  the  profitable  trade  with  the  Indians. 

But  already  the  English  looked  with  covetous  eyes  upon 
the  territory  west  of  the  Alleghanies.  The  sword  must  de- 
cide who  should  possess  it. 

In  this  war,  Connecticut  furnished  a  large  number  of  men. 
Namely,  one  thousand  in  1755,  and  twenty-five  hundred  the 
next  year.  The  succeeding  year  fourteen  hundred  men  were 
called  for,  and  five  thousand  were  raised  ;  and  in  1758  five 
thousand,  besides  a  thousand  others  sent  to  Western  Massa- 
chusetts, as  militia  to  guard  the  frontier.  But  now,  seeing 
that  Parliament  did  not,  as  was  expected,  furnish  money  to 
pay  the  troops,  the  taxes  began  to  increase.  The  people 
of  Connecticut  had  had  enough  of  irredeemable  paper 
money ;  so,  with  each  issue  of  bills,  went  out  the  law  for  tax- 
ation to  meet  them.  In  1758  the  tax  was  nine  pence  on  the 
pound,  and  then  five  pence  per  pound  additional,  making 
a  tax  nearly  equal  to  six  cents  on  the  dollar.  The  next  year 
four  thousand  men  were  voted,  and  also  a  tax  of  ten  pence  on 
the  pound  to  be  paid  four  years  later.  The  trial  was  the 
greater  because  for  the  first  three  years  it  seemed  like  wasting 
money  and  lives.  The  incompetence  of  the  English  adminis- 
tration, and  of  many  of  the  English  officers,  who  were  selected 
on  much  the  same  principle  that  for  some  years  men  have 
been  in  this  country  appointed  to  office,  occasioned  disaster 
and  humiliating  defeats.  But  when,  in  1758,  William  Pitt 
became  Prime  Minister  and  reformed  the  English  military 
service,  the  tide  changed.  The  enemy  were  driven  from  West- 
ern Pennsylvania  and  Northern  New  York  ;  from  Quebec  by 
Wolf  in  1759,  and  from  Canada  in  1760 ;  on  which  account 
we  had  in  Connecticut  a  special  Thanksgiving,  October  23d, 
1760. 

But  war-like  operations  and  the  call  for  troops  continued 
two  years  longer,  till  terms  of  peace  were  signed  in  February, 
1763.  Then  for  a  time,  except  from  Indian  depredations  in 
Northern  New  York  and  Western  Pennsylvania,  there  is 


34  ANNIVERSARY   OF   THE 

quiet  in  all  our  borders.  The  men  who  were  active  in  that 
war  were  known  to  our  grandfathers  and  great-grandfathers,  but 
few  of  their  names  have  been  preserved  on  the  Wilton  records. 
The  men  who  enlisted  were,  of  course,  credited  to  Norwalk. 
But  aside  from  others,  one  death  came  sharply  to  Mr.  Gaylord. 
Under  date,  October,  7,  1760,  in  the  obituary  list  he  writes : 
"  Moses  Qaylord,  aged  twenty-one  years,"  and  adds  :  "  He  died 
at  Fort  Herkimer  on  his  way  from  -  Oswego  to  Albany,  after 
he  had  been  from  home  in  ye  expedition  against  Montreal,  a* 
little  more  than  four  mouths,  and  after  above  two  months  of 
sore  sickness  at  Oswego  on  his  way  toward  Albany."  There 
are  four  *  others  who  died  the  same  year,  who  were  prob- 
ably soldiers,  two  of  them  at  Schenectady,  one  of  whom  was 
Captain  Thaddeus  Mead. 

While  his  dear  son  Moses  was  dying  at  Fort  Herkimer, 
the  family  of  Mr.  Gaylord  were  blessed  by  the  birth  of  another 
son,  who  received  the  significant  name  "  Deodate,"  "  Gift 
of  God,"  who  passed  his  whole  life  in  Wilton,  and  died  in 
1840  at  the  age  of  eighty.  Between  the  birth  of  the  father 
and  death  of  the  son,  one  hundred  and  thirty  years  intervened. 
Mr.  Deodate  Gaylord  is  well  remembered  by  many  who  are 
here.  His  daughter,  Mrs.  Charles  Davenport,  honored  and  be- 
loved, still  has  her  home  in  Wilton,  and  in  her  son  we  joy- 
fully welcome  the  poet  laureate  of  this  Anniversary. 

In  December,  1766,  Mr.  Gaylord's  health  was  so  much  im- 
paired, that  the  Society  voted  to  employ  an  assistant.  But, 
as  it  would  seem,  before  one  could  be  obtained,  disease  made 
rapid  progress,  and  he  died  January  2,  1767,  aged  fifty-seven 
years;  having  been  Pastor  of  the  Church  nearly  thirty-four 
years.  He  was  buried  near  the  Church,  where  his  memorial 
stone,  bearing  an  honorable  inscription,  still  stands.  His  Pas- 
torate was  longer  than  any  other  in  this  Church,  and,  with  two 
exceptions,  double  the  length  of  any.  He  was  the  only  Pas- 
tor, beside  Mr.  Ball,  who  has  died  in  office,  and  the  only  Pastor 
whose  dust  hallows  the  burying-ground  of  this  Society. 

Mr.   Gaylord  was  evidently  a  man  of  public  spirit,    and 


Abraham  Higgins,  20  years  ;  Abijah  Hubbell,  25  years  ;  Josiah  Canfleld. 


WILTON  CONGREGATIONAL   CHURCH.  35 

held  in  high  esteem  by  his  brethren .  in  the  Ministry.  He 
was  methodical  and  exact  in  his  mode  oi  life,  as  the  Church 
records,  now  invaluable  as  an  exponent  of  his  Ministry, 
attest.  Of  the  General  Association,  which  yesterday  closed 
its  one  hundred  and  sixty -seventh  Anniversary,  at  Norwalk, 
he  was  six  times  a  member,  the  first  time  at  Hartford  in  1740, 
the  last  at  Lyme  in  1763.  In  1751,  at  Windham,  he  was 
Moderator.  He  was  sound  in  faith,  not  a  man  of  extreme 
views,  and  probably  would  be  reckoned  a  moderate  Calvinist. 
His  epitaph  gives  him  the  honorable  appellation  of  peace- 
maker. He  was  not  remarkably  demonstrative  in  his  mode  of 
speaking.  A  tradition,  I  know  not  how  authentic,  states, 
that  when,  on  one  occasion,  he  preached  in  Eidgefield,  on  ex- 
change with  the  Eev.  Jonathan  Ingersoll,  the  great  grand- 
father of  the  present  honored  Governor  of  Connecticut,  who 
was  thirty-eight  years  pastor  there,  the  people  in  Bidgefield 
spoke  of  the  sermon  as  uninteresting.  When  opportunity 
offered,  Mr.  Ingersoll  borrowed  the  sermon  of  Mr.  Gaylord, 
and,  without  comment,  preached  it  to  his  people.  When  the 
people  praised  it  as  superior  to  Mr.  Gaylord's  from  the  same 
text,  Mr.  Ingersoll  replied,  "  he  could  always  preach  well, 
when  he  could  get  one  of  Mr.  Gaylord's  sermons  to  preach." 

The  parish  grew  and  prospered  under  Mr.  Gaylord's  minis- 
try, and  was  fairly  united.  The  record  shows  above  nine 
hundred  baptisms  (924  or  more).  Most  of  those  baptized  were 
}oung  children,  as  the  Half- Way  Covenant  prevailed,  and 
most  who  statedly  attended  public  worship  brought  their 
children  for  baptism.  They  were  usually  presented  on  the 
Sabbath,  and  sometimes  on  more  than  one  Sunday  of  the 
same  month.  The  record  of  deaths  testifies  to  the  general  good 
health  of  the  people.  The  average  number  recorded  during  the 
first  twelve  years  of  Mr.  Gaylord's  ministry  was  4.5  per  year, 
the  next  ten  years  6.8.  Among  the  deaths  were  the  two 
eldest  daughters  of  Mr.  Gaylord.  Their  disease  was  con- 
sumption. 

There  were  on  the  list  183  weddings.  The  marriage  fee 
ranged,  as  I  read  the  record,  from  eighteen  pence  to  forty  shil- 
ings.  Mr.  Gaylord's  second  wife  was  Elizabeth  Bishop. 


36  ANNIVERSARY   OF  THE 

There  were  born  to  him  thirteen  children.  Mrs.  Gaylord  sur- 
vived her  husband  forty-five  years. 

After  the  death  of  Mr.  Gaylord,  the  Society  again  applied 
to  the  Association.  Mr.  Samuel  Mills  preached  as  a  candi- 
date. On  the  fifth  of  March,  1767,  the  Society  voted  to  call 
Mr.  Mills,  fifteen  in  the  negative.  The  first  of  July  they 
again  voted  ;  u  a  great  majority,  only  fourteen  in  the  nega- 
tive," says  the  record.  In  October  they  repeated  the  call, 
"  only  fourteen  in  the  negative."  The  (Jlerk  of  the  Society 
evidently  was  not  with  the  fourteen.  Still  Mr.  Mills  did  not 
accept,  and  in  February  the  Society  made  one  effort  more. 
They  appointed  a  large  Committee  to  wait  upon  Mr.  Mills,  and 
if  he  could  not  be  obtained,  to  seek  another  candidate.  Mr. 
Mills  was  evidently  determined  not  to  become  the  Pastor  of  a 
divided  people,  and  so  he  finally  declined. 

There  lives  in  Wilton  no  tradition  of  this  Mr.  Mills,  whence 
he  came  or  whither  he  went,  yet  his  excellence  was  so  appa- 
rent, that  the  people  would  persist  in  calling  him  about  once 
a  quarter  for  a  whole  year. 

There  seems  no  reason  to  doubt  that  this  young  man  was 
the  now  famous  Rev.  SamuelJ.  Mills,  better  known  as  "Father 
Mills  of  Torringford."  He  was  born  May  16th,  1743,  gradua- 
ted at  Yale  College  in  1764,  was  licensed  by  the  Association 
ofLitchfield  County  in  1766,  and  in  September,  1768,  was  ex- 
amined and  commended  to  the  Church  in  Torringford,  where 
he  was  settled  in  1769,  and  remained  the  Minister  of  that 
Church  sixty-four  years,  till  his  death  forty-three  years  ago,  at 
the  age  of  ninety  years.  Six  years  ago  that  Church  made 
a  grand  centennial  celebration  of  the  settlement  of  Father 
Mills,*  who,  though  no  longer  in  the  flesh,  walks  in  the  spirit, 
not  the  streets  of  Torringford  only,  but  the  hills  and  valleys  of 
Litchfield  County,  living  in  the  traditions  of  ministers  and 
people,  and  oiten  heard  at  their  meetings  of  Association  and 
Conference.  His  mother,  Jane  Lewis  Mills,  was  a  native  of 
Stratford.  In  his  biography  no  mention  is  made  of  his  preach- 
ing in  Wilton.  That  year  is  unaccounted  for. 

*  The  Historical  Address  was  delivered  by  Rev.  William  H.  Moore,  and,  with  other 
proceedings  of  the  occasion,  published. 


WILTON  CONGREGATIONAL   CHURCH.  37 

Mr.  Mills  was  tall  and  large,  dignified  in  manner,  and  rode 
on  horseback  like  a  general — the  admiration  of  all  horsemen.* 
His  eyes  were  large  and  beaming,  his  voice  rich  and  powerful. 
At  times  he  was  mighty  in  eloquence.  He  was  frequently 
irresistably  comic  in  his  language  and  unexpected  turns  of 
thought;  at  other  times  he  suddenly  brought  tears  to  eyes  un- 
used to  weep,  or  awed  his  hearers  by  sudden  disclosures  of  the 
Majesty  of  the  Most  High,  and  of  the  awful  solemnities  of 
eternity.  He  has  a  special  interest  to  us  ;  because  his  son,  who 
bore  his  name,  was  associated  with  Gordon  Hall  and  James 
Richards  and  others  in  praying  and  planning,  at  Williams 
College  and  at  Andover,  till  the  American  Board  began  to  be 
and  to  send  the  Gospel  to  the  heathen ;  and  still  further  be- 
cause the  present  Pastor  of  this  Church,  named  from  the  son, 
perpetuates  and  honors  the  name  of  Samuel  J.  Mills. 

In  May,  1768,  the  Society  invited  Mr.  ISAAC  LEWIS  to  preach 
as  a  candidate.  Mr.  Lewisf  was  born  in  that  part  of  Stratford, 
now  Huntington,  January  21  (0.  S.),  1746.  He  graduated  at 
Yale  in  1765,  in  a  class  of  which  twenty-one  out  of  forty-seven 
became  Ministers  of  the  Gospel.  He  studied  Divinity  at  East 
Hampton,  L.  I.,  and  was  licensed  to  preach  by  Fairfield  East 
Association,  in  Danbury,  March,  1768.  He  soon  received  a 
call  to  Newport,  R  I.,  to  the  Church  over  which  the  renowned 
Dr.  Hopkins  was  subsequently  settled.  But  the  unanimous 
call  of  this  Society,  and  probably  of  the  Church,  ^  given  in 
May,  to  preach  upon  probation,  was  accepted.  The  nearness 
of  Wilton  to  his  father's  residence  may  have  influenced  his 
decision  to  remain  in  Connecticut.  In  July,  the  Society  voted 
to  call  Mr.  Isaac  Lewis  into  the  work  of  the  Ministry.  There 
was  so'me  difficulty  in  fixing  the  salary.  Eleven  voted  against 
the  call,  not  from  dislike  to  Mr.  Lewis,  but  because  they  pre- 
ferred the  old  method  of  voting  the  salary  year  by  year.  "  A 
stated  salary"  was  not  to  their  mind.  One  hundred  and  fifty 
pounds  were  voted  as  a  settlement,  and  seventy  pounds  as 
the  first  year's  salary.  Lieutenant  Nehcmiah  Mead,  Nathan 

*  See  Kev.  Dr.  McEwen's  reminiscences. 

t  Spragne's  Annals,  Vol.  1,  page  662. 

i  The  Society  in  its  records  seldom  mentions  the  Church. 


38  ANNIVERSARY   OF  THE 

Stuart  and  Ezra  Gregory  were  appointed  a  Committee  to 
make  arrangements  for  the  ordination,  which  occurred  Tues- 
day, October,  26th,  1768.  Rev.  Jedediah  Mills  preached  the 
sermon.*  He  had  been  Mr.  Lewis'  pastor  and  instructor  in 
fitting  for  College ;  was  settled  at  Huntiugton  two  years  be- 
fore the  organization  of  this  Church,  and  continued  there  till 
his  death  in  1776. 

December,  1768,  Mr.  Lewis  married  Miss  Hannah  Beale, 
daughter  of  Matthew  Beale,  of  New  Preston — a  lady  well 
fitted  for  her  new  position.  He  occupied  a  house  in  Kent ; 
afterwards,  and  till  his  death,  May  10th,  1845,  occupied  by 
Capt  Daniel  Betts,  which  was  pulled  down  a  few  years  ago. 
It  was  the  second  house  south  of  the  junction  of  the  Ridge- 
field  and  Danbury  road,  on  the  west  side  of  the  street 

The  records  show  that,  notwithstanding  the  unsettled  state 
of  public  affairs,  Mr.  Lewis'  ministry  was  neither  barren  nor 
unfruitful.  In  1773  his  salary  was  increased  to  ninety 
pounds.  A  majority  also  voted  to  build  a  new  house  of 
worship.  When  Mr.  Lewis  was  settled,  the  country  already 
felt  the  ground-swell  of  the  Revolution,  and  he  shared  with 
his  people  the  anxiety  and  losses  that  came  with  the  war. 
In  1776  he  was  appointed  Chaplain  of  a  Connecticut  regi- 
ment, commanded  by  Col.  Philip  B.  Bradley,  which  was 
stationed  at  Bergen,  N.  J.  After  seven  months  service,  he 
was  so  severely  attacked  by  a  fever  that  his  life  was  despaired 
of.  Afterwards  he  received  the  appointment  of  Chaplain  in 
the  Continental  army ;  but,  as  the  Wilton  people  were  unwil- 
ling to  give  him  leave  of  absence,  he  did  not  accept  it. 
When  the  British  were  about  to  land  at  Norwalk  in  1779,  he 
went  at  the  head  of  a  company  of  men  to  resist,  and  a  cannon 


*On  the  Council  were  :  Rev.  Moses  Dickinson,  1727-1778,  Mr.  Samuel  Fitch,  Nor- 
walk ;  Rev.  Noah  Hobart  1733-73,  Samuel  Rowland,  Fairfleld ;  Rev.  Abraham  Todd, 
Greenwich,  1734-1773,  Second  Church  ;  Rev.  Jonathan  lugersoll  1740-1778;  Deacon  John 
Benedict,  Ridgefleld :  Rev.  Robert  Silliman,  1742-'71  (1) ;  Theophlius  Fitch,  [New] 
Canaan.  Rev.  Moses  Mather,  1744-1805  ;  Jonathan  Selleck,  Darien  ;  Rev. 
Samuel  Sherwood,  1757-1783,  Weston ;  Rev.  Seth  Pomeroy,  in  1758-1769,  Greenfield  ;  Rev. 
William  Tennent,  colleague  of  Mr.  Dickinson,  1765-1772  ;  Rev.  Hezekiah  Ripley,  1767- 
1821,  Dea.  Thomas  Nash,  Greensf arms  ;  Rev.  Ebenezer  Davenport,  1767-1773,  Greenwich, 
First  Church. 

(1)  Dr.  David  Willard,  the  grandson  of  Mr.  Silliman,  was,  from  1812  to  his  death  in  1860, 
a  resident  of  Wilton,  and  a  practicing  physician  forty-five  yearj ;  also  a  member  of  the 
Church  from  1822. 


WILTON   CONGREGATIONAL  CHURCH.  39 

ball  struck  within  three  feet  of  him.  After  Norwalk  was 
burned  the  people  appointed  a  day  of  fasting  and  prayer,  and 
as  the  old  Pastor  (Mr.  Dickinson)  had  died  the  year  before, 
Mr.  Lewis  preached  to  them  in  an  unfinished  house  which 
had  escaped  the  flames. 

At  one  time,  that  he  might  preach  in  destitute  places,  he 
exchanged  with  the  minister  in  Dorset,  Vermont,  for  several 
weeks,  and  visited  places  in  that  region  during  the  week. 
Connecticut  ministers,  by  appointment  of  General  Association, 
did  much  missionary  circuit  preaching  in  Vermont  before 
the  formation  of  the  Connecticut  Missionary  Society  in*  1798. 
Before  his  missionary  work  was  quite  complete,  Mr.  Lewis 
had  nearly  lost  his  life  by  the  breaking  of  a  blood-vessel. 
Happily,  he  reached  home  alive  and  recovered  completely 
from  the  disease.  He  had  a  highly  advantageous  offer  to  go 
to  South  Carolina,  but  declined,  as  he  said,  because  of  his 
':  strong  disapprobation  of  the  system  of  slavery." 

Mr.  Lewis,  as  well  as  the  people,  felt  severely  the  derange- 
ment in  the  currency  produced  by  the  war.  In  1777  his 
salary  was,  made  one  hundred  pounds,  lawful  money,  one- 
half  to  be  paid  in  provisions,  the  prices  of  which  were 
fixed  and  low.  For  example:  Wheat  was  to  be  seventy -five 
cents  a  bushel :  beef,  two  dollars  and  a  half  a  hundred ; 
leather  shoes,  one  dollar  a  pair.  But  the  next  year,  while 
the  salary  was  the  same,  wheat  was  one  dollar  and  sixty-seven 
cents  per  bushel ;  rye  had  increased  twenty  per  cent. ;  pork, 
twenty  per  cent. :  beef  was  to  be  two  cents  per  pound  in  the 
autumn  and  three  cents  per  pound  in  the  winter.  Four 
years  later  (1782)  it  was  voted  that  the  salary  be  one  hundred 
pounds,  lawful  money,  to  be  paid  in  silver  or  gold.  During 
these  later  years  the  financial  difficulties  of  the  country  were 
so  great,  that  it  became  necessary  for  the  towns  to  assume  the 
support,  at  least  in  part,  of  their  own  soldiers  in  the  Con- 
tinental army.  Accounts  kept  by  Abijah  Betts — the  ma- 
ternal grandfather  of  our  honored  townsman,  Capt.  Abijah 
Betts,  now  living  in  Kent — are  in  the  possession  of  his 
family.  These  give  the  names  of  officers  and  soldiers  who 


40  ANNIVERSARY  OF  THE 

received  provisions  and  articles  of  clothing  by  this  agency.* 
Aside  from  other  afflictions  of  the  war,  "Wilton  suffered 
from  actual  invasion  when  the  British  passed  through  on  the 
occasion  of  the  burning  of  Danbury  in  April,  1777.  On  their 
return,  hungry  and  weary  with  marching  and  fighting,  they 
entered  many  houses  for  food.  As  they  came  down  the 
Eidgefield  'road,  they  fired  a  ball  into  the  house  of  Dea. 
Daniel  Gregory,  in  which  were  his  wife  and  children.  The 
eldest,  Abigail — afterwards  the  wife  of  Moses  Gregory — when 
above  eighty  years  of  age,  was  accustomed  to  tell  how  an 
officer'  came  in,  with  his  sword  drawn,  attended  by  soldiers. 
He  assured  them  of  safety  if  they  would  furnish  food.  The 
British  set  fire  to  the  house  near  the  Episcopal  Church,  now 
occupied  by  Mr.  Sherman  Fitch ;  but,  before  they  were  out 
of  sight,  a  woman  went  with  a  pail  of  water  from  the  next 
house  north  (which  has  lately  fallen  down,  but  was  for  many 
years  occupied  by  Major  Samuel  Belden),  and  extinguished 
the  flames.  As  people  heard  of  the  approach  of  the  British 
they  hastily  removed  their  silver  spoons  and  such  valuable 
property  as  they  could.  From  houses  on  the  Belden's  Hill 
road,  furniture  was  carried  to  Huckleberry  Hills,  as  it  was 
supposed  the  British  might  take  that  street ;  but  learning,  as 
it  would  seem,  that  soldiers  were  gathering  at  Norwalk,  the 


*  From  these  memoranda  it  appears  that  the  following  persons  were  in  the  army 
a  part  or  the  whole  of  the  periods  1780-1783:  Capt.  Samuel  Comstock  (afterwards 
Major).  Lieut.  Samuel  Deforest,  Ensign  (in  1782  Lieut.)  Matthew  Gregory,  Seth 
Hubbell,  Samuel  Nichols,  Jesse  Olmstead,  Ambrose  Barns,  John  Johnson.  John 
Williams,  Jonathan  Jackson,  Elijah  Belts;  and  in  1782  Lieut.  Salmon  Hubbell  and 
Uriah  Mead.  Elijah  Taylor  is  elsewhere  mentioned  as  Eusigu.(l)  A  warning  is  also 
found  written  and  signed  by  Samuel  Comstock,  Captain  Ninth  (?)  Regiment,  calling 
his  company  together  for  inspection  the  17th  of  October,  1776.  Washington  was  at 
that  time  at  White  Plains,  after  the  retreat  from  Long  Island.  He  had  called  most  of  the 
Connecticut  troops  to  his  aid  As  Lieut.  Gregory  was  in  the  action  at  White  Plains 
the  28th  of  October,  it  is  probable  that  Capt.  Comstock  marched  thither  with  his 
company  directly  after  the  17th.  Major  Comstock  represented  Norwalk  in  the  L  egis- 
latnre,  October,  1800,  and  Wilton  in  eight  Sessions,  between  October,  1803,  and  May, 
1809.  In  his  will  he  gave  to  the  Church,  for  its  Communion  service,  a  silver  tankard 
which  had  for  generations  been  an  heirloom  in  the  family.  He  was  born  1739,  the  son 
of  Dea.  Nathan  Comstock,  and,  as  is  supposed,  in  the  house  so  long  occupied  by  Edward 
Comstock.  He  died  December  1st,  1844,  in  his  86th  year.  He  enlisted  July  10th,  1775, 
and  was  commissioned  Captain,  July  10th,  1776.  He  and  his  company  shared  in  the 
sufferings  of  Valley  Forge,  in  the  battle  of  Monmouth,  and  the  capture  of  Cornwallis. 
His  wife  was  Mercy  Mead,  daughter  of  Theophilus  Mead.  Lieut.  Matthew  Gregory, 
the  son  of  Ezra  and  grandson  of  Dea.  Matthew  Gregory,  was  with  Major  Comstock 
in  the  places  just  mentioned,  and  was  also  in  the  fight  at  Ridgefield,  April  27th.  1777. 
His  death  occurred  in  his  ninety-first  year,  June  4th,  1848,  at  Albany,  N.  Y.,  where  he 
had  resided  forty  years  or  more.  His  first  wife,  Mary,  daughter  of  Hezekiah  Deforest, 
died  in  1796. 


(1)  In  records  in  Comptroller'!  Office,  Hartford,  Bays  Hon.  William  Edgar  Raymond,  to  whom  I  am 
indebted  for  facts  respecting  Major  Comstock. 


WILTON   CONGREGATIONAL   CHURCH.  4:1 

enemy  took  the  Westport  road,  and,  finding  Westport  already 
occupied  by  several  hundred  Americans,  they  turned  east, 
crossed  the  Saugatuck  river  about  three  miles  above  the 
bridge,  marched  to  Compo,  and  got  on  shipboard  that  night. 
It  was  their  last  attempt  to  go  far  from  the  shore  in  Con- 
necticut. But  the  Wilton  people  suffered  afterwards  in  the 
burning  of  Nor  walk,  though  their  houses  and  their  lives 
were  spared. 

After  the  war  ended,  a  new  difficulty  arose.  The  "  Half- 
Way  Covenant,"  as  it  was  called,  had  in  the  preceding 
century  been  adopted  by  many  Churches  in  Connecticut  and 
Massachusetts.  The  principle  of  this  covenant,  briefly  stated, 
was  that  those  who  had  been  baptized  in  infancy,  when 
grown  to  riper  years,  if  "  they  understand  the  ground  of 
religion,  and  are  not  scandalous,  and  solemnly  own  their 
covenant  with  the  Church  (into  which  covenant  baptism 
introduced  them),"  "might  dedicate  their  children  to  the 
Lord  in  baptism."  And  this,  though  they  did  not  believe 
themselves  converted  persons,  and  did  not  propose  to  come 
to  the  Lord's  table !  This  theory  was  not  at  first  generally 
acceptable  to  the  New  England  Churches.  In  order  to  give 
it  currency  it  was  found  necessary  to  convene  a  Synod  at 
Boston  in  1662,  which,  by  a  majority  vote,  recommended  it. 
Many  Churches  accepted  it  with  great  reluctance,  and  some 
refused  altogether.  President  Edwards  showed  that  it  was 
unscriptural.  The  revivals  of  that  generation,  by  making 
the  distinction  between  converted  and  unconverted  men 
more  manifest,  prepared  the  churches  to  reject  it  on  two 
grounds:  first,  that  that  covenant  was  contrary  to  the  Gospel; 
and  second,  that  trouble  had  arisen  by  the  influence  of  uncon- 
verted men  thus  openly  recognized  as. Church  members.  Mr. 
Lewis  persuaded  this  Church  to  consider  the  question  of 
giving  up  the  Half- Way  Covenant. 

A  meeting  was  held  October  30th,  1783,  and  continued  by 
successive  adjournments  to  the  4th  of  December  of  the 
same  year,  when,  after  much  discussion,  it  was  voted  (1.) 
unanimously  that,  in  the  opinion  of  this  Church,  no  person 
ought  to  be  admitted  to  the  enjoyment  of  the  special 


42  ANNIVERSARY   OF   THE 

ordinances  of  the  Gospel ;  but  such  as  appear  to  be  real 
Christians.  (2.)  The  Church  consents  to  abolish  or  discontinue 
what  is  commonly  called  the  half  way  practice.  (3.)  The 
Church  will  not  treat  those  in  the  Half- Way  Covenant  as 
outcasts,  but  is  ready  to  receive  them  to  Communion  when 
they  request,  providing  their  conduct  is  good.  The  second 
and  third  votes  were  not  unanimous.  It  is  easy  to  see  that 
worldly  men — who  enjoyed  most  of  the  privileges,  without  the 
responsibilities,  of  Church  membership — would  not  regard 
with  pleasure  this  movement,  which  left  them  without  even  a 
name  to  live ;  but  they  were  members  of  the  Society,  and, 
though  Mr.  Lewis  seems  to  have  been  popular  before,  they 
"  testified  their  dissatisfaction  by  withholding  from  him, 
either  altogether  or  in  a  great  measure,  the  salary  they  had 
pledged  him."*  Possibly,  had  the  discussion  of  the  subject 
not  occurred  till  after  the  annual  meeting  of  the  Society  the 
result  might  have  been  somewhat  different.  After  three 
years  the  Consociation  was  called  to  hear  the  case,  and  Mr. 
Lewis,  at  his  own  request,  was  dismissed  June  1st,  1786.  His 
ministry  lasted  about  eighteen  years,  during  which  three 
hundred  and  eighty-two  persons  were  baptized ;  fifty -nine  re- 
newed the  covenant,  and  sixty-four  were  received  to  Com- 
munion. When  the  condition  of  the  country  and  the 
experience  of  many  other  Churches  during  that  period  are 
considered,  it  will  be  seen  that  his  ministry  was  more  than 
usually  successful. f  It  is  evident  that  the  Consociation  so 
judged,  for  on  the  day  of  his  dismission  he  was  invited  to- 
preach  in  Greenwich.  Some  of  the  Wilton  people  were 
desirous  that  he  should  still  be  their  Pastor,  but  in  the 
October  following  he  was  installed  as  Pastor  of  the  Second 
Church  in  Greenwich,  where  he  remained  thirty-two  years, 
till,  in  the  seventy-third  year  of  his  age  and  the  fifty-first  of 
his  ministry,  by  his  own  urgent  request,  the  Consociation  was 
called.  He  was  dismissed  December  1st,  1818,  and  the  same 
day  his  son,  the  Rev.  Isaac  Lewis,  Junior,  who  had  been 

9 

*  Many  families,  no  doubt,  voluntarily  continued  to  pay  their  proportion  of  the  sal- 
ary, and  he  was  accustomed  to  fit  young  men  for  College.  Dea.  Matthew  Marvin 
fitted  with  him. 

t  Sprague's  Annals. 


WILTON   CONGREGATIONAL   CHURCH.  43 

preaching  at  New  Eochelle,  was  installed  his  successor,  where  he 
continued  ten  years.  Mr.  Lewis  (the  father)  received  the  degree 
of  Doctor  of  Divinity  from  Yale  College  in  1792.  After  his 
dismission  he  remained  in  Greenwich  till  his  death,  August 
27th,  1840.  He  was  for  a  year  or  two  a  member  of  the  Cor- 
poration of  the  College.  He  died  in  the  ninety-fourth  year 
of  his  age  and  the  seventy-third  year  of  his  ministry.  In  1830, 
when  Rev.  Joel  Mann  was  settled  at  Greenwich,  Dr.  Lewis 
gave  the  charge  to  the  people,  which  was  his  last  public 
service,  except  occasional  addresses  at  the  Communion  table. 
The  sermon  at  his  funeral  was  preached  by  the  Pastor  of  the 
Church,  Rev.  Noah  Coe,  from  1  Cor.  3:11;  the  same  text  from 
"which  Mr.  Whitfield  preached  the  sermon  in  Yale  College 
Chapel,  which  had  been  the  means  of  awakening  his  mind  to 
religion  more  than  three-quarters  of  a  century  before." 

To  Dr.  Lewis  were  born  nine  children,  six  of  whom  were 
sons.  Two  of  the  sons  (Zechariah  and  Isaac)  were  twinsr 
born  in  Wilton,  January  1st,  1773.  They,  as  also  a  brother, 
graduated  at  Yale  College.*  Mrs.  Lewis  died  April  13th, 
1829. 

Rev.  Nathaniel  Hewitt,  onee  so  well  known  here  as  the 
first  Pastor  of  the  Second  Church  in  Bridgeport,  thus  de- 
scribes Dr.  Lewis'  appearance  in  1818,  the  year  of  his  dis- 
mission from  Greenwich :  "In  January,  1818,  I  was  installed 
at  Fairfield,  where  I  met,  for  the  first  time,  the  late  Rev.  Dr. 
Isaac  Lewis.  He  took  part  in  the  public  solemnities  on  that 
occasion,  and  offered  the  installing  prayer.*  *  *  In  his  per- 
son and  deportment  he  united  the  Patriarch,  Prophet  and 
Saint.  His  head  and  shoulders  were  above  his  brethren,  and 
his  hair  flowing  and  white  as  the  snow ;  his  shoulders,  broad ; 
his  forehead,  massive ;  his  complexion,  so  clear  and  pure  as 
to  resemble  a  child's ;  a  large,  blue  eye,  expressive  of  mild- 
ness and  purity ;  his  voice,  smooth  and  guttural ;  and  his 


*  Zechariah  Lewis  studied  theology,  but  was  unable  to  preach  on  account  of  his 
health.  He  was  Tutor  in  Yale  (1796-1799),  Editor,  Secretary  of  the  New  York  Religious 
Tract  Society,  &c.,  and  died  in  Brooklyn,  N.  Y.,  November  14th,  1840,  aged  sixty-seven 
years.  Isaac  Lewis,  Jr.,  studied  theology  in  New  Haven,  was  ordained  May  30.  1798,. 
preached  in  Cooperstown  and  Goshen,  N.  Y.,  at  Bristol,  R.  I.,  at  New  Rochelle,  and  in 
Greenwich,  1818  to  1828.  He  received  D.  D.  from  Delaware  College  in  1844.  He  died 
m  New  York,  September  23d,  1&54,  aged  eighty-one  years.  One  of  the  sons  died  in, 
infancy  ;  the  other  three  were  lawyers.— Sprague,  Vol.  1,  pp.  666-67. 


44  ANNIVERSARY   OF   THE 

-air   and   attitude,  in    the    pulpit   and  in  prayer,  more  as  a 
man  of  God  than  any  other  I  have  ever  known." 

A  little  more  than  two  months  after  the  dismission  of  Mr. 
Lewis  from  this  Church,  after  a  warm  discussion,  the  Church 
voted,  August  9th,  1786,  to  revoke  their  vote  to  abolish  the 
Half-Way  Covenant,  and  September  28th,  1786,  to  restore 
the  Half- Way  Covenant,  according  to  the  vote  of  1770 ;  but 
a  few  years  after  the  Churches  had,  by  common  consent,  given 
up  that  plan,  and  this  Church,  under  the  lead  of  Mr.  Fisher, 
among  them.  The  result  of  the  course  of  the  majority  of  the 
•Society,  in  securing  the  dismission  of  Mr.  Lewis,  illustrates 
that  societies  and  individuals  often  have  it  in  their  power  to 
do  things  it  were  unwise  to  do.  Several  years  elapsed  before 
the  Church  could  agree  upon  a  minister,  who  would  accept 
their  call.*  The  salary  was  small,  money  was  hard  to  get, 
and  what  was  more  to  be  deplored,  there  was  a  lack  of  har- 
mony. 

But  the  need  of  a  new  house  of  worship,  and  in  another 
location,  was  now  urgent.  It  was  difficult  to  agree  upon  a 
site.  There  is  a  tradition  that  at  one  time  it  was  voted  to 
build  upon  the  plain  a  little  south  of  the  present  Post-Office, 
.and  that  "the  people  in  Kent,  who  would  not  go  further 
north,  consented  to  go  thus  far  from  the  old  Meetiug-House ; 
but  at  a  subsequent  meeting  it  was  voted  to  build  where  the 
house  now  stands."  It  was  a  bold  step  to  remove  so  far. 
There  was  then  no  other  Church  in  what  is  now  the  town  of 
Wilton.  Had  the  new  house  been  placed  south  of  the  Post- 
Office,  and  the  road  opened  which  now  crosses  the  river  near 
the  railroad  station,  it  is  quite  possible  that  the  ecclesiastical 
history  of  Wilton  for  the  last  sevent^y-five  years  had  been  in 
some  respects  different. 

Timber,  so  far  as  it  could  be  useful,  was  taken  from  the 


*  April  2d,  1789,  voted  to  call  Mr.  Calvin  White— yeas,  14  ;  nays,  2.  May  21st,  1792, 
•voted  to  call  Mr.  James  Glassbrook  to  the  work  of  the  Ministry.  Mr.  Glassbrook 
preached  about  a  year  at  Salisbury,  and  died  October,  1793.  April  29th,  1793,  voted  to 
«all  Mr.  Methusaleh  Holding ;  2  nays.  In  1793,  Rev.  James  Richards— a  native  of  New 
Canaan,  and  afterwards  for  many  years  a  honored  Professor  in  the  Seminary  at 
Auburn — supplied  the  pulpit  several  Sabbaths. 


WILTON   CONGREGATIONAL   CHURCH.  45- 

old  house  to  build  the  new,*  which  was  erected  A.D.  1790. 
The  pulpit  and  seats  of  the  old  house  were  transferred  to  the 
new,  and  were  used  thirteen  years,  when  new  ones  were  sub- 
stituted, which  remained  till  1844.  The  older  persons  present 
remember  those  seats :  square  pews  under  each  gallery  and 
one  between  the  north  corner  pews,  and  the  "great  pew" 
which  surrounded  the  pulpit  as  a  court,  and  was  the  successor 
of  the  old  times  "deacons' seat"  It  was  entered  by  two 
doors,  between  which,  directly  in  front  of  the  pulpit,  was  a 
shelf  or  narrow  table  that  was  transformed  into  the  Com- 
munion-table by  raising  a  leaf  attached  by  hinges  to  the 
inner  edge.  This,  when  in  position,  was  supported  by  an 
iron  rod.  The  table  and  leaf  were  stained  to  imitate  mahog- 
any. The  slips  in  the  body  of  the  house  had  a  door  at  each 
end,  as  there  were  three  aisles.  The  ceiling  was  arched. 
The  galleries  on  each  side,  supported  by  four  large  pillars, 
were  high,  as  was  also  the  pulpit,  which  had  its  lofty,  conical, 
but  well-proportioned  and  ornamented  sounding-board,  firmly 
supported  by  two  pillars  that  rose  from  the  rear  of  the  pulpit- 
The  box  of  the  pulpit  was  reached  by  a  flight  of  stairs  with 
balusters  on  either  side,  but  when  reached  could  with  diffi- 
culty accommodate  two  persons. 

The  pew  of  the  Pastor  adjoined  the  great  pew  on  the  east 
side.  Consequently,  his  family  were  under  the  constant  in- 
spection of  the  congregation.  It  might  have  been  irksome  to 
some  of  his  children,  but  I  do  not  remember  that  any  person 
ever  complained  that  they  were  not  patterns  of  good  behavior 
to  other  young  people,  f 

This  building  was  formally  dedicated  to  Almighty  God,  in 
December,  1790.  The  sermon  was  preached,  as  is  well  re- 
membered, though  those  who  heard  it  have  probably  all  de. 
parted  this  life,  by  Rev.  Timothy  D wight,  D.  D.,  the  al- 


*  The  stones  and  underpinning  of  the  old  house  were  devoted  to  fencing  the  burying- 
ground  where  it  stood.  The  vote  to  build  was  passed  December  28th,  1789.  The 
dimensions  are  fifty-four  feet  in  length,  forty  feet  in  breadth,  posts  twenty-four  feet 
in  height 

t  Outside,  high  up  on  the  north  side  of  the  house,  was  painted  on  the  siding  what 
seemed,  to  near-sighted  persons,  a  large  window;  but  whose  chief  value  to  some  irrever- 
ent boys  on  a  week  day  was  as  a  target  for  atones.  They  evidently  did  not  apprehend 
the  architectural  fitness  of  the  thing,  and  felt  for  it  a  boy's  natural  antipathy  to  shams. 


46  ANNIVERSARY   OF   THE 

ready  distinguished  Pastor  of  the  Church  on  Greenfield  Hill, 
and  forever  illustrious  as  the  President  of  Yale  College  for 
nearly  twenty-two  years,  from  1795  to  1817.  His  text  was 
Genesis,  28  : 17,  "  How  dreadful  is  this  place  !  This  is  none 
other  but  the  house  of  God,  and  this  is  the  gate  of  heaven.'' 
Dr.  Dwight's  commendation  of  the  house  is  remembered  to 
this  day. 

Nearly  three  years  afterwards,  November  18,  1793,  the 
Society,  by  a  unanimous  vote,  invited  to  the  pastorate  Mr. 
AARON  WOODWARD,  at  "a  yearly  salary  of  £100  lawful 
money,  twenty  cords  of  good  wood,  and  the  use  of  £150  until 
a  parsonage  shall  be  purchased."  The  experience  of  fixing 
the  salary  every  year,  at  the  end  of  the  year,  had  not  been  pleas- 
ing. Mr.  Woodward  accepted  the  call,  and  was  ordained  Pas- 
tor the  8th  of  January,  1794  The  ordination  sermon  was 
preached  from  Acts  26  :  18,  by  Rev.  Benjamin  Trumbull, 
D.  D.,  Pastor  in  North  Haven  sixty  years,  from  1760  to  1820, 
and  distinguished  as  the  author  of  a  valuable  History  of  Con- 
necticut.* 

Mr.  Woodward  was  born  at  North  Coventry,  Connecticut, 
October  14th,  1760,  fitted  for  College  with  Rev.  Nathan 
Williams,  D.  D.,  of  Tolland,  and  Rev.  Charles  Backus,  D.  D.,  of 
Somers,  graduated  at  Yale,  September,  1789  ;  studied  Divinity 
with  Dr.  Trumbull,  was  licensed  to  preach  by  North  Haven 
West  Association,  May  25,  1790.  Theological  Seminaries 
with  a  three  years'  course  did  not  exist  Mr.  Woodward  had  • 
received  several  invitations  to  settle  before  coming  here.  A 
little  more  than  two  weeks  after  his  ordination  he  was  mar- 
ried, January  24th,  to  Martha,  eldest  daughter  of  Dr.  Trum- 
bull. He  brought  his  bride  to  Wilton  on  horseback,  the  ap- 
proved method  of  travelling  then,  when  one  horse  wagons  and 
gigs  were  hardly  known.  For  a  time  he  lived  in  a  part 
of  Mr.  Nathan  Davenport's  house,  and  afterwards  built  the 
one  on  the  opposite  side  of  the  street,  now  owned  by  Mr. 

•Other  members  of  the  Council  were:  Rev.  Moses  Mather,  D.  D.,  Thaddeus  Bill, 
Middlesex  (Darien);  Rev.  Hezekiah  Ripley,  Joseph  Hyde,  Greensfarms;  Rev.  Isaac  Lewis, 
D.D.,  Dea.  A.  Mead,  W.  Greenwich;  Rev.  William  Seward,  Dea.  I.  Warren.  Stanwich  ; 
Rev.  Matthias  Burnett,  Dea.  Thaddens  Betts,  Norwalk  ;  Rev.  Justus  Mitchell,  Dea. 
John  Benedict  (New)  Canaan ;  Rev.  John  Noyes,  Weston  ;  John  Taylor,  Ridgebury  ; 
Rev.  Samuel  Goodrich,  Dea.  Nathan  Olmstead,  Ridgefleld ;  Rev.  Daniel  Smith,  Dea. 
Silas  Davenport,  Stamford ;  Dea.  Reuben  Scofleld,  North  Stamford. 


WILTON   CONGREGATIONAL   CHURCH.  47 

William  Sturges.*  The  record  of  baptisms  shows  three  daugh- 
ters born  to  Mr.  Woodward  while  he  resided  in  Wilton  • 
Martha  Trumbull,  baptized  June  28th,  1795 ;  Julia  Ann; 
July,  1798  ;  Jerusha,  January.  1801.  The  catalogue  shows 
that  thirty-three,  some  of  whom  became  very  useful  members,  f 
were  added  to  the  Church,  and  one  hundred. and  four  baptized 
during  the  Ministry  of  Mr.  Woodward.  He  probably  left 
Wilton  in  the  Spring  of  1801.  J  His  health  was,  as  it  proved, 
permanently  impaired,  so  that  he  was  never  able  to  resume 
the  pastoral  office,  which  he  greatly  loved.  He  bought  a  farm 
on  the  high  lands  of  Wilbraham,  Mass.,§  was  for  many  years 
a  Deacon  in  the  Congregational  Church  there,  and  honored 
as  one  of  its  most  valuable  members.  He  had  a  strong  voice, 
was  fluent  and  very  animated  in  conversation,  easy  in  manner 
but  decided  in  opinion.  Says  a  gentlemen  who  knew  him,  | 
"  His  many  virtues,  his  sterling  principles,  his  unswerving 
integrity,  his  devoted  piety,  are  deeply  engraven  on  my 
memory."  Mr.  Woodward  died  February  25th,  1840.-  Mrs. 
Woodward  survived  till  December  10,  1851. 

Rev.  JOHN  J.  CARLE,  a  native  of  New  Jersey,  a  graduate  of 
Queen's,  now  Rutger's  College,  in  1789,  who  received  the  de- 
gree of  A.  M.  from  Princeton  in  1792,  was  the  next  Pastor.  ^[ 

March  12th,  1801,  the  Society  invited  him  to  preach  longer. 
Some  circumstances,  precisely  what,  does  not  appear,  occasioned 
Mr.  Carle  to  preach,  on  the  6th  of  April,  a  sermon  before  Rev. 
Messrs.  Justus  Mitchell,  of  New  Canaan,  Samuel  Goodrich,  of 
Ridgefield,  and  John  Noyes  of  Weston.**  These  Ministers 

*  It  used  to  be  said  that  Mrs.  Woodward's  carpet  was  the  first  seen  at  Wilton,  and  was 
significant  of  other  things. 

t  Among  these  may  be  mentioned  Jonathan  Middlebrook,  afterwards  Deacon,  and 

a  liberal   donor    to  the  fund.      Nathan  Hubbell,  father  of  Rev.  Stephen  and  Dea. 

Wakeman  Hubbell,  and  Moses  Gregory,  father  of  Dea.  Giles  Gregory,  of  Wilton,  and 
Dea.  Ira  Gregory,  of  Norwalk. 

+  As  some  compensation  for  his  loss  ingoing  away,  the  Society  voted,  27th  Feb.,  1800, 
his  salary  for  the  remainder  of  the  year.  When  he  ceased  to  supply  the  puipit  does  not 
appear ;  possibly  in  the  Winter  of  1801.  But  the  Consociation  to  dismiss  him  probably 
met  in  the  Spring  of  1800. 

^Letter  of  his  daughter,  Miss  Jerusha  Woodward,  Wilbraham,  Mass.,  under  date  of 
June  7th,  1876,  from  which  much  of  the  above  is  taken . 

;  Benjamin  C.  Eastman,  of  New  Haven. 

•;\Vas  Joseph  Carle,  one  of  the  petitioners  for  Wilton  Parish  in  1726,  an  ancestor  of 
Rev.  John  J.  Garlc  ? 

**  Mr.  Noyes  was  long  known  and  loved  in  Wilton  and  elsewhere.  He  was  a  half- 
brother  of  Prof.  Benjamin  Sillir»an,  Sr.,  and  died  1840. 


48  ANNIVERSARY   OF  THE 

had  been  invited  to  hear  him  and  advise  with  the  Church  and 
Society  "respecting  the  propriety  of  giving  Mr.  Carle  a  call  at 
the  present  time."  Apparently  these  Ministers  were  not  en- 
tirely satisfied,  and  yet  not  fully  persuaded  of  Mr.  Carle's  un- 
fitness  for  the  Pastorate.  Their  decision  was  sufficiently  del- 
phic.  They  judged  "  it  advisable  for  Mr.  Carle  and  the  Society 
to  seek  after  further  acquaintance."  Thereupon  the  Society  on 
the  same  day  unanimously  requested  Mr.  Carle  "  to  preach 
longer,"  and  three  weeks  later,  with  unanimity,  called  him  to  the 
Pastorate.  There  is  no  allusion  to  the  Church  in  these  votes. 
Perhaps  the  true  office  of  the  Society  as  the  Trustee  of  the 
property  of  the  Church  was  not  so  well  understood 
as  now.  The  salary  offered  was  three  hundred  dollars 
with  the  use  of  the  land  and  buildings  *  owned  by  the 
Society.  Mr.  Carle  was  installed  June  3d,  1801.  Three 
years  later  he  asked  a  dismission.  There  were  reports 
respecting  his  habits  of  drinking,  it  is  said,  which  led 
the  Con&ociation  to  decline  at  that  time  to  dismiss 
him.  Thereupon  he  publicly  demitted  the  office  of  the  Min- 
istry, in  the  presence  of  the  Council,  giving  emphasis  to  his 
declaration  by  pulling  off  his  coat.  The  tradition  is  that  he 
shortly  returned  to  New  Jersey,  and  died  early,  a  victim  of 
intemperance.  But  I  have  found  no  authentic  record  of  his 
subsequent  life.f 

During  the  Pastorate  of  Mr.  Carle,  the  parish  of  Wilton 
was,  A.  D.,  1802,  incorporated  by  the  Legislature  into  a  town. 
On  the  first  of  July  of  that  year,  members  of  St.  Paul's  Parish  in 
Norwalk,  residing  in  Wilton,  formed  an  Ecclesiastical  Society 
for  the  Protestant  Episcopal  Church  known  as  St.  Matthew's.:}: 

*  Those  purchased  of  Mr.  Woodward. 

t  John  H.  Carle  graduated  at  Rutger's  in  1811,  and  preached  at  Marbletown,  Hurley, 
Shokan,  Mapletown,  and  Currytown,  N.  J.  Was  he  the  son  of  John  J.  Carle? 

$  The  meeting  to  organize  this  Society  was,  as  the  law  direct  d,  called  by  the  civil 
authority,  and-  held  in  the  School-house  at  Pimpewatig.  Samuel  Belden  was  chosen 
Moderator,  David  Lambert,  Clerk,  Daniel  Church  and  Samuel  Belden,  Wardens.  A 
House  of  Worship  was  erected  (38  feet  by  28  feet),  in  1803,  completed  in  1818.  and  con- 
secrated by  Bishop  Hobart.  About  sixteen  years  after,  wings  were  added  A  few  years 
since  the  present  building  of  stone  was  erected  in  its  place.  The  ground  for  the  Ceme- 
tery was  the  gift  of  John  Jame*  Lambert,  A.  D.,  1815  Three  Methodist  Episcopal 
Churches  have  been  bui't  in  Wilton,  namely,  at  Bald  Hill.  Zion's  Hill  and  Kent.  Two 
others  are  near  the  borders  of  the  town  one  in  Poplar  P'ain.  the  other  in  Georgetown. 
A  Protestant  Methodist  Church  in  Georgetown,  organized  about  thirty-five  years  asjo, 
became  a  Congregatio  al  Church,  June  15,  1875.  It  nas  Beany  ninety  members.  Albert, 
H.  Thompson  is  its  Minister. 


WILTON   CONGREGATIONAL   CHURCH.  49 

It  is  worthy  of  note  in  this  connection  as  illustrating  the 
liberality  of  the  Congregationalists  towards  other  denomina- 
tions, that  in  1758,  James  Truesdale  was,  by  vote,  "  ex- 
cused from  paying  a  rate  to  the  minister  in  case  he  get  a 
certificate  from  the  Baptist  Society."  In  January,  1764,  it  was 
voted  to  abate  the  minister's  rate  to  Mr.  Whelpley  "so  long  as 
he  attends  the  Baptist  meeting  and  no  longer."  In  1772  this 
Ecclesiastical  Society  began  yearly  to  appoint  a  Special  Col- 
lector *  to  take  the  Minister's  rate  from  those  living  in  the 
bounds  of  this  Society,  who  belonged  to  St.  Paul's  Parish,  and 
pay  it  to  the  Rector  thereof,  in  the  same  manner  as  the  others 
collected  and  paid  over  to  their  own  Pastor  the  rates  of  other  in- 
habitants. How  rigidly  the  tax  was  collected  may  be  inferred 
from  one  example.  December  1st,  1730,  Clapp  Eaymond, 
Justice  of  the  Peace,  notifies  Abijah  Betts  that  he  is  appointed 
Collector  of  the  Society  tax  for  the  support  of  the  Ministry, 
or,  in  default  of  payment,  to  levy  on  the  gocds  of  the  delin- 
quents, or  in  default  of  goods,  to  take  their  bodies  to  the 
jail  in  New  Haven. 

The  next  Pastor  was  SAMUEL  FISHER.  Mr.  Fisher  was 
born  in  Sunderland,  Mass.,  the  3d  of  June,  1777.  Three 
months  before  his  birth,  his  father,  who  was  an  officer  in  the 
Continental  army,  had  died  at  Morristown,  New  Jersey, 
where  the  main  body  of  the  army  were  in  winter  quarters, 
He  graduated  A.  D.,  1799,  with  the  fifth  class  that  completed 
its  studies  at  Williams  College. 

He   studied  for   the    ministry    with    Rev.    Dr.    Hyde    of 
Lee,  Massachusetts,  and  before  accepting  a  call  to  this  Church, 
was  ordained  an  Evangelist  in  October,  A.  D.,  1805.     Two 
months  later,  December  3d,  1805,  he  was  installed  as  Pastor 
of  the  Church.     In  this  office  he  enjoyed  the  lasting  respect . 
and    esteem   of  many.     His  dismission    occurred  July  5th, 
1809,   that    he   might    accept    a  call   to   Morristown,   New 
Jersey,f  where  he  was  installed  on  the  9th  of  August  follow- 
ing.    Five  years  later    he   was  called  to  the  Presbyterian 

*  In  various  years  Samuel  Belden,  David  Lambert,  Jr.,  Joseph  P.  Fitch  and  David 
Hunbutt,  were  thus  appointed. 

t  His  predecessor  at  Morristown  was  the  Rev.  James  Richards,  D.  D.,  already  men- 
tiotied,  who  was  that  year  called  to  Newark,  N.  J. 


50  ANNIVERSARY   OF   THE 

Church,  in  Patterson,  where  he  labored  twenty  years.  From 
that  time  his  ministry  was  in  different  Churches,  as  Evangel- 
ist, or  acting-Pastor.  For  five  or  six  years  he  preached  in 
Greenbush,  opposite  Albany.  In  1837  he  was  chosen  Mod- 
erator of  the  General  Assembly  of  the  Presbyterian  Church, 
New  School.  Ten  years  before,  in  1827,  he  received  the  de- 
gree of  D.  D.,  from  Princeton  College.  One  of  the  letters  in 
Sprague's  Annals  was  written  by  him,  and  gives  a  pleasant  im- 
pression of  his  style  of  thought  and  expression.  For  a  number 
of  his  later  years  he  resided  in  Albany,  in  the  family  of  his  son, 
Rev.  Samuel  W.  Fisher,  D.  D.,  who  was  born  after  the  father 
left  Wilton,  became  President  of  Hamilton  College,  and  died 
a  few  years  since.  His  own  death  occurred  at  Suckasunny, 
Morris  County,  New  Jersey,  the  27th  of  December,  1856,  when 
he  was  in  his  eightieth  year.  Mr.  Fisher's  Ministry  was  valu- 
able to  the  congregation.  The  evil  effects  of  restoring  the  Half- 
Way  Covenant,  which  for  twenty  years  seem  to  have  lingered 
in  the  Church,  were  partially  tided  over  soon  after  his  installa- 
tion, by  the  adoption  of  the  present  Confession  of  Faith  and  Cov- 
enant The  seventy- three  Communicants  which  he  found  were 
increased  by  forty-three  during  the  less  than  five  years  of  his 
Pastorate.  In  the  year  1808,  the  last  full  year  of  his  stay, 
twenty-six  united  with  the  Church.  Possibly  he  would  have 
remained  longer  as  Pastor,  except  for  the  coldness  produced 
towards  him  in  some  minds  on  account  of  his  influence  in  se- 
curing the  giving  up  of  the  Half- Way  Covenant  But  the  in- 
terests of  the  kingdom  of  Christ  and  the  spiritual  blessings, 
which,  in  the  next  twenty -five  years,  increased  the  Church  two 
or  three  fold,  is  a  sufficient  justification  of  the  wisdom  of  his 
course. 

The  next  year  after  the  dismission  of  Mr.  Fisher,  October 
17th,  1810,  Eev.  SYLVANUS  HAIGHT  was  installed.  Mr. 
Haight  Mas  born  at  Fishkill,  New  York,  July  22d,  1776, 
almost  one  hundred  years  ago.  He  entered  Union  College, 
Oct.  7,  1797,  in  the  class  of  1801,  and  remained  till  the 
Spring  of  1800.  There  he  distinguished  himself  as  a  speaker. 
He  preached  as  an  evangelist  in  several  places  in  the  State  of 
New  York,  and  came  here  from  Gal  way.  Saratoga  County, 


WILTON   CONGREGATIONAL   CHURCH.  51 

where  his  ministrations  had  been  especially  blessed.  He  en- 
tered most  heartily  into  his  work  here,  and  for  several  reasons 
that  period  in  which  he  was  Pastor,  was  memorable  in  the 
history  of  the  Church.  The  era  of  revivals  had  fairly  begun. 
This  Church,  especially  for  the  first  thirteen  years  of  Mr. 
Haight's  pastorate,  profited  by  them.  In  1816  and  again  in 
1822  a  large  number  was  added  to  the  Church.  About  one 
hundred  and  sixty  were  received  to  the  Church  during  his 
pastorate  of  nearly  twenty-one  years. 

The  salary  paid  by  the  Society  had  always  been  small,  and 
as  the  tide  of  emigration  had  fairly  begun  to  flow,  was  not 
likely  to  be  larger.  Other  Churches  were  raising  funds  ;  the 
better  to  secure  themselves  against  the  evils  of  poverty,  and 
against  the  mischief  which  was  threatened,  when  the  salary 
must  be  raised  by  other  means  than  taxation.  It  was  resolved 
to  make  the  attempt  here.  Matthew  Marvin,  Esq.,  and  Mr. 
Haight  were  the  leaders  in  the  work.  The  subscription  was 
commenced  January  1st,  1813,  the  condition  being  that  un- 
less four  thousand  dollars  were  pledged,  no  subscriber  should 
be  bound.  After  no  little  effort  it  lacked  sixteen  dollars  of 
the  required  sum.  Mr.  Haight  who  had  already  agreed  to 
make  an  annual  deduction  of  fifty  dollars  from  his  salarv, 
subscribed  the  sixteen  dollars  in  the  name  of  a  stranger.* 
Subsequently,  Samuel  Middlebrook  and  Jonathan  Middle- 
brook,  left  each  a  legacy  of  five  hundred  dollars  to  remain  on 
interest  till  the  amount  should  be  a  thousand  dollars.  '  The 
two  thousand  thus  secured  were  added  to  the  fund  increasing 
it  to  six  thousand  dollars.  The  payment  of  the  several  sub- 
scriptions to  the  Society  was  made  sure  by  "Esquire  Marvin," 
who  advanced  the  money  and  received  the  notes  of  the  sub- 
scribers payable  to  himself.  From  1812  to  his  death  in  1842, 
he  was  the  Treasurer  of  the  Society.  Since  that  time  his 
mantle  has  rested  upon  his  son,  Deacon  Charles  Marvin. f 
Before  the  settlement  of  Mr.  Haight,  the  Society  owned  a  par- 
sonage which  was  built  by  Mr.  Woodward.  Mr.  Haight  pre- 

*  Prominent  among  the  donors  were,  Matthew  Marvin  ($650),  Samuel  Cometock  and 
Strong  Comstock  and  Mary  Belts,  each  $200. 

t  Previous  to  1790,  for  many  years  Abijah  Betts  was  Treasurer,  and  from  1790  to  1812, 
Major  Samuel  Comstock. 


52  ANNIVERSARY   OF   THE 

vailed  upon  the  Society  to  sell,  and  paid  twenty-seven  hun- 
dred dollars  for  it,  which  sum  was  added  to  the  fund.  In  1832-5 
the  present  parsonage  was  built.  The  principal  of  the  fund 
has,  in  various  ways  increased,  till,  with  the  Parsonage  prop- 
erty, it  amounts  to  ten  thousand  dollars,  which  affords  a  rea- 
sonable assurance  that  this  Church  will  not  need  aid  from  the 
Connecticut  Home  Missionary  Society  for  a  long  time  to 
come,  and  also  binds  those  who  enjoy  these  fruits  of  the  self- 
sacrifice  and  wise  forethought  of  the  Christian  men  and  women 
who  have  gone  before  us,  to  remember  generously  those  church- 
es in  this  State  and  elsewhere  that  have  fallen  into  poverty. 

Another  important  event  of  Mr.  Haight's  ministry  was  the 
opening  of  the  Wilton  Academy.  HAWLEY  OLMSTEAD — a 
man  worthy  to  be  held  in  lasting  remembrance — graduated  at 
Yale  College  the  foremost  scholar  of  the  Class  of  1816.*  He 
designed  to  study  law,  but  a  failure  of  his  eyes  in  college  in- 
duced him  to  open  a  school  as  an  experiment.  Dartmouth 
College  had  its  origin  in  a  small  school  building  yet  standing 
in  Columbia,  Connecticut.  The  Wilton  Academy  was  opened 
in  1816  in  a  small  building,  afterwards  for  many  years  used 
by  the  late  Nathan  Comstock  as  a  store.  It  was  soon  seen 
that  the  young  teacher  had  rare  gifts  for  his  office.  Before 
entering  College  he  had  taught  a  district  school  and,  as  assist- 
ant pupil,  had  aided  Rev.  William  Belden — himself  a  Wilton 
man — at  that  time  Pastor  in  Greenfield  and  Principal  of  its 
Academy.  An  Academy  building  was  erected  in  1820. f 

*  Hawley  Olmstead,  son  of  Aaron  and  Sarah  Esther  (Hawley)  Olmstead,  born  Dec. 
17th,  ]793,  was  descended  on  his  father's  side  from  Richard  Olmstead,  one  of  the  first 
settlers  of  Norwalk,  and  its  first  Representative  in  the  Tolonial  Legislature.  His 
mother  was  a  "  great-granddaughter  "  of  Rev.  Thomas  Hawley,  of  Northampton,  Mass., 
who  was  a  graduate  of  Harvard  College  in  1709  and  the  first  minister  of  Ridgefield, 
Conn.  Mr.  Olmstead  married  Miss  Harriet  Smith,  of  New  Canaan,  a  niece  of  Rev. 
Daniel  Smith,  who  was  fifty-three  years  (1793-1846)  Pastor  of  the  First  Church,  Stam- 
ford. Mrs.  Olmstead  still  resides  in  New  Haven. 

t  The  land  upon  which  the  Academy  was  built  was  given  "for  the  advancement  of 
literature  and  science,  and  especially  for  the  good  will  I  have  and  bear  to  the  Presby- 
terian Society  of  Wilton"  by  Nathan  Comstock,  to  "David  Willard,  Samuel  Comstock, 
2d,  and  Lewis  Gregory — Committee  of  the  Presbyterian  Society  of  Wilton — for  the 
time  being,  and  to  their  successors  in  office  forever."  The  land  given  was  sixty-five 
feet  front,  and  seventy  deep.  The  land  was  to  be  used  only  for  the  erection  of  a  build- 
ing or  buildings  for  "  a  school  of  higher  order,  and  for  religious  and  singing  meetings," 
"  which  school,  kept  in  said  house,  is  to  be  under  the  direction  of  the  <  Teraynum  of  the 
Presbyterian  Society,  for  the  time  being,  and  his  successors  in  office,  and  the  Preceptor 
of  the  school;  and  in  case  of  the  Society's  being  vacant  or  destitute  of  a  Clergyman,  to 
be  under  the  direction  of  the  Committee  of  said  Society."  The  date  of  the  deed  is 
March  25th,  1820.  Mention  is  made  that  the  school  at  that  time  was  in  Mr.  Comstock's 
store.  The  witnesses  are  Sylvanus  Haight  and  Matthew  Marvin.  The  deed  is  acknowl- 
edged before  Matthew  MaVvin,  Justice  of  the  Peace,  and  is  evidently  in  his  hand- 
writing. 


WILTON  CONGREGATIONAL   CHURCH.  53 

It  stood  south  of  the  road,  between  the  present  site  of  the 
Town  House  and  the  Parsonage.  About  the  year  1832  it 
was  removed  to  a  spot  a  little  northeast  of  the  present  Chapel. 
The  old  building  was  sold,  about  1870,  to  William  A.  Stur- 
ges,  and  stands  near  the  Post-Office.  Mr.  Haight,  with  his 
usual  enthusiasm,  aided  to  publish  the  excellencies  of  the 
teacher  and  to  procure  pupils  from  abroad.  The  two  first 
pupils  fitted  here  for  College — Nathaniel  Bouton  and  Jared 
B.  Waterbury — have  long  been  among  the  most  honored  and 
useful  ministers  of  their  generation.  Each  received  the 
degree  of  D.D.  many  years  since.  Dr.  Bouton,  for  forty  years 
Pastor  of  the  Church  in  Concord,  New  Hampshire,  is  recog- 
nized as  the  Historian  of  that  State.  The  school  so  prospered 
that  after  four  and  a  half  years  Mr.  Olmstead  was  persuaded 
to  remove  to  Norwalk.  His  health  became  impaired,  and 
three  years  later  he  returned  to  Wilton  to  rest  and  engage  in 
agriculture.  He  also  heard  private  pupils.  At  the  end  of 
two  and  a  half  years,  in  1826,  he  again  opened  his  school,  at 
first  in  the  Academy,  and  when  the  Town  Hall  was  built,  a 
few  years  after,  in  the  upper  room  of  that  building.  There 
he  continued  thirteen  years,  with  no  public  examination,  no 
private  circulars,  no  advertisement,  and  yet  uniformly  a  full 
attendance  of  pupils.  When  he  left  Wilton,  in  1839,  to  be- 
come Rector  of  the  Hopkins'  Grammar  School,  in  New  Haven 
— an  institution  forty  years  older  than  the  College — he  had 
had  pupils  from  nearly,  or  quite,  every  State  in  the  Union, 
and  from  several  foreign  countries.  Some  of  the  Christian 
young  men,  whose  names  are  yet  held  in  loving  remembrance 
here,  had  made  themselves  very  useful  in  the  Sabbath  school 
and  in  social  religious  meetings.* 

After  ten  years  of  extraordinary  success  in  the  Grammar 
School,  Mr.  Olmstead's  health  failed  and  he  relinquished  the 
rectorship  to  his  son,  who  had  for  two  years  been  his  assist- 
ant. For  ten  years  longer  he  taught  private  pupils  in  his 
own  house.  In  1862  he  received  from  Yale  the  degree  of 


*  Among  these  Lockwood,  David  P.  Judson,  Stiles  Hawley,  James  Smith,  Nathaniel 
Wade,  Willis  Lord,  E.  B.  Clark,  Benjamin  Smith,  Ira  Lawton,  Edward  Strong,  Amos 
Cook,  and  Myron  N.  Morris. 


5i  ANNIVERSARY   OF  THE 

LL.D.  His  death  occurred  the  3d  of  December,  1868,  while 
he  was  addressing,  in  his  own  parlor,  a  club  of  ministers  and 
laymen,  with  whom  for  more  than  twenty  years  he  had  met 
weekly  to  discuss  some  great  moral  and  religious  questions. 
Said  an  eye-witness:  u  He  had  just  completed  a  most  thor- 
ough, logical,  and,  as  his  companions  felt,  richly  beautiful 
argument.  It  was,  indeed,  the  beautful  death  of  the  Chris- 
tian soldier  with  his  armor  on,  the  disciple  going  out  of  the 
earthly  service  to  the  'well  done'  of  his  Lord." 

In  one  of  the  later  years  of  his  life,  anticipating  some  such 
day  as  this  for  Wilton,  and  thinking  he  might  not  be  presentr 
Mr.  Olmstead  charged  me  to  give  a  sentiment,  which  will  be 
recognized  as  characteristic  of  the  man,  and  is  fit  to  be 
engraven  as  his  epitaph.  It  was  this :  "  Unswerving,  supreme 
fidelity  to  Truth  and  Right"* 

Happily  for  Wilton  the  health  of  Mr.  Edward  Olmstead, 
who  was  for  two  years  the  assistant  and  then  the  successor  of 
his  father  in  the  Hopkins'  Grammar  School,  became  impaired 
after  a  few  years,  which  eventually  occasioned  his  return  to- 
Wilton  in  1855  to  resume  the  work  of  the  Academy ;  at  first 
in  the  room  vacated  by  Mr.  Hawley  Olmstead  in  1839,  and 
afterwards  in  a  building  of  his  own,  where  he  continues  to 
this  day  doing  for  the  children  what  his  honored  father  had 
done  for  their  parents. 

One  fact  connected  with  the  Academy  ought  to  be 
mentioned.  Though  it  has  done  so  much  for  Wilton, 
it  has  no  funds,  and  beyond  the  room  rent  of  the  old 
Academy  and  the  room  over  the  Town  Hall,  has  received 
no  gratuitous  pecuniary  aid  from  the  town,  the  Ecclesi- 
astical Society,  or  individuals.  If  some  who  have  shared  its- 
advantages,  with  benevolent  desire  that  others  might  receive 
like  benefits,  would  provide  a  generous  endowment,  they 
might  sow  seed  that  would  bear  fruit  of  inestimable  value 
when  they  have  gone  to  their  reward. 

*  Mr.  Olmstead  was  of  med  um  height,  stoutly  built,  very  erect,  and  dignified  in  hi* 


eep  and  constant  to  the  day  of  hi 

the  Legislature  in  1825.  '26.  '28  and  '29  and  a  Senator  from  New  Haven  in  1853. 
Chairman  of  the  Committee  on  Education  in  1826,  and  again  in  1828,  he  presented 
reports  on  Common  School  Education  that  attracted  much  attention  and  exercised  a 
lasting  influence. 


WILTON    CONGREGATIONAL   CHURCH.  OO 

When  Mr.  Haight  was  ordained  there  were  few  buildings 
of  any  kind  near  the  Meeting-House,  except  the  one  nearest 
to  it  on  the  east,  recently  occupied  by  Mr.  Moses  Betts.  There 
was  no  house  on  the  road  towards  Kent  till  one  reached  that 
now  occupied  by  Mr.  John  Betts  near  the  river.  The  house 
of  Dea.  Daniel  Gregory  on  the  hill,  west,  now  occupied  by 
his  grandson,  William  D.  Gregory,  was  the  only  one  near  this 
house  except  the  one  across  the  bridge  on  the  north,  now  the 
residence  of  Dea.  Edward  Olmstead.  There  was  here  no 
parsonage,  no  town  house,  conference  room,  or  horse  sheds. 
If  in  remote  parts  of  the  town  dwellings  have  decreased,  there 
has  been  growth  in  this  neighborhood.  The  Academy  and 
the  opening  of  the  railroad  in  1852  have  contributed  to  this. 

The  great  temperance  revival  of  this  century  began  while 
Mr.  Haight  was  Pastor,  and  he  threw  himself  into  it  early  in 
his  ministry  with  characteristic  ardor.  There  has  been  a 
change  in  the  drinking  habits  of  the  people  which  the  young 
people  can  hardly  realize.  So  late  as  1829,  the  Temperance 
Reformation,  which  then  only  discarded  distilled  liquors,  had 
gained  such  headway  that  one  man  determined,  without  the 
aid  of  alcoholic  liquor,  to  raise  his  barn,  which  stands  near 
here ;  but  so  many  men  refused  to  complete  the  raising  that 
he  was  obliged  to  send  for  strong  drink.  A  few  weeks  later 
another  man  put  up  the  frame  of  a  barn  in  Kent,  supplying 
nothing  stronger  than  ale.  This  was  said  to  be  the  first  large 
building  in  town  raised  without  the  help  of  distilled  liquor. 

The  energy,  zeal,  and  earnestness  in  the  work  of  the  minis- 
try wh:ch  characterized  Mr.  Haight  were  remarkable.  His 
sympathy  with  his  friends  in  their  affliction,  and  his  readiness 
to  make  personal  sacrifice  for  their  advantage,  were  extra- 
ordinary. Perhaps  a  greater  prudence  in  speech,  when 
silence  had  been  golden,  had  enabled  him  longer  to  escape 
some  of  the  unfriendliness  that  clouded  the  later  years  of  his 
ministry,  and  to  the  great  sorrow  of  many  who  never  cease  to 
love  him,  and  to  his  own  great  affliction,  led  to  his  dismission 
August  17th,  1831.  In  the  Spring  of  1832,  having  sold  his 
residence  in  Kent,  since  occupied  by  the  family  of  Erastus 
Sturges,  he  removed  to  Pottsville,  Pennsylvania,  in  which 


56  ANNIVERSARY   OF   THE 

and  in  Norriton,  Port  Carbon,  and  other  places,  his  ministry 
was  highly  successful.  In  1846  he  was,  at  the  age  of  seventy 
years,  installed  Pastor  at  Bethel.  Afterwards  he  resided  in 
Wilton,  supplying  neighboring  Churches  for  a  longer  or 
shorter  period,  where  his  ministrations  were  very  acceptable. 
In  1849  he  removed  to  South  Norwalk,  where  he  preached 
three  years  (1848-1851).  As  opportunity  offered,  he  con- 
tinued his  loved  employment  till  within  a  few  weeks  of  his 
death,  which  occurred  April  6th,  1864,  in  the  eighty-eighth 
year  of  his  age.  He  was  buried,  at  his  own  request,  in 
Greensfarms,  because  he  would  be  in  death  near  his  venerated 
friend,  Eev.  Hezekiah  Ripley,  D.D.,  who  was  fifty -four  years 
Pastor  of  the  Church  in  that  place. 

Perhaps  I  cannot  better  conclude  this  sketch  of  Mr.  Haight 
than  by  quoting  from  an  article  published  after  his  decease* 
by  the  Secretary  of  the  New  York  State  Medical  Society,  f 
who  was  born  and  reared  in  Wilton.  He  says :  "  Mr.  Haight 
was  a  man  of  quick  impulses  and  ponderous  energy.  His 
will  seemed  to  me  inflexible,  and  he  moved  with  impetuous 
force  for  its  accomplishment  His  person  was  massive,  his 
head  large,  and  his  skin  bronzed.  When  in  after  years  I  saw 
and  heard  Daniel  Webster,  I  was  greatly  impressed  with  a 
similarity  between  them.  Not  that  they  were  alike.  Mr. 
Webster's  movements  were  slow  and  majestic,  but  there  was 
the  massive  body,  the  large  head,  and  the  bronzed  face. 
Both  were  eloquent.  Mr.  Webster  was  calm,  majestic, 
logical ;  Mr.  Haight  bold,  powerful,  impassioned.  He  would 
have  been  a  prominent  man  had  he  been  thrown  into  po- 
litical life.  His  courage,  his  daring,  his  enterprise  would 
have  commended  him  to  Napoleon  as  worthy  of  one  of  his 
Generals. 

"  I  remember  the  beautiful  summer  afternoon  in  August, 
1831,  when  a  mere  child,  I  went  with  my  father  to  hear  his 
farewell  sermon.  He  was  in  the  lofty  pulpit  of  the  old 
Church,  which  was  very  high  and  seemed  to  my  childish 
eyes  a  great  deal  higher  than  it  really  was.  In  it  his  figure 

*  "Norwalk  Gazette,"  May  3d,  1864. 

t  Sylvester  Willard,  M.D.,  born  June  19, 1825;  died  at  Albany,  April  2d,  1865. 


WILTON  CONGREGATIONAL   CHURCH.  57 

rose  majestically.  His  powerful  voice  was  melted  in  tender- 
ness. The  scenes  of  joy  and  sorrow  through  which  he  had 
passed  with  that  people  seemed  to  pass  before  him  anew. 
When  he  concluded  his  sermon  the  people  wept ;  his  heart 
was  swollen  with  emotion,  and  his  voice  faltered,  but  with 
immense  power  and  solemnity  he  concluded:  'Amen!  and 
amen  to  this  Bible,'  at  the  same  time  laying  his  hand  with 
heavy  emphasis  upon  it.  I  was  frightened,  and  thought  the 
world  was  coming  to  an  end.  On  my  way  home,  I  remem- 
ber, I  asked  my  father  if  there  were  to  be  no  more  Sundays ! 
He  replied :  '  Yes,  but  Mr.  Haight  was  not  to  be  our  Minister 
any  longer.'"* 

In  December,  1831,  Rev.  SAMUEL  MERWIN — a  native  of  Mil- 
ford,  a  graduate  of  Yale  in  1802 — took  a  dismission  from  the 
]STorth  Church  in  New  Haven,  of  which  he  had  been  Pastor 
nearly  twenty-seven  years,  and  to  which,  during  his  ministry, 
eight  hundred  and  fifty  persons  were  added.  He  accepted  a 
call  to  this  Church,  and  on  the  23d  of  February,  1832  (ninety- 
nine  years  after  the  ordination  of  Mr.  Gaylord),  was  installed 
its  Pastor,  f  A  few  months  after  Mr.  Merwin's  settlement  a 
•deep  religious  interest  was  manifest,  and  Mr.  Nettleton,  who, 
for  twenty-five  years  or  more,  had  been  distinguished  as  an 
Evangelist,  aided  him  awhile.  Several  were  added  to  the 
Church  that  year,  and  some  each  succeeding  year,  but  most 
in  1836.  The  whole  number  received  to  the  Church  during 
Mr.  Merwin's  ministry  was  fifty.  In  a  variety  of  ways  his 
pastorate  was  valuable  to  the  people.  They  needed  to  be 
especially  instructed  in  the  doctrines  of  the  Bible.  They 
were,  unhappily,  divided  by  the  events  of  the  few  preceding 
years,  and  Mr.  Merwin's  large  experience,  eminent  prudence, 

*  Mr.  Haight  was  twice  married.  The  children  of  his  first  wife  were  Martha,  Cla- 
rissa, Sylvanus,  Frances  and  Henry — three  daughters  and  two  sons.  Both  the  sons 
and  the  youngest  daughter,  as  I  remember,  diea  before  their  father.  The  second  Mrs. 
Haight — formerly  Mrs.  Brush,  a  very  estimable  woman— died  in  Norwalk  a  few  years 
since. 

t  The  members  of  the  Councils  which  ordained  Messrs.  Carle,  Fisher  and  Haight  are 
not  named  on  the  Church  record.  At  Mr.  Merwin's  installation  there  were  present: 
Rev.  Daniel  Smith,  Stamford  ;  Rev.  Platt  Buffett,  Dea.  E.  Close,  Stauwich  ;  Rev.  Joel 
Mann,  Isaac  Holley,  West  Greenwich;  Rev.  Henry  Fuller,  William  Crissy,  North 
Stamford  ;  Rev.  Ebenezer  Platt,  Joseph  Mather,  Darien  ;  Rev.  John  II.  Hunter,  Charles 
Bennett,  Fairfleld;  Rev.  Chauncey  Wilcox,  Dea.  Obadiah  Mead.  North  Greenwich; 
Rev.  Nathaniel  Hewitt,  D.D.,  Jesse  Sterling,  Bridgeport;  Rev. Charles  G.  Selleck,  Dea. 
Harvey  Smith,  Ridgefleld ;  Dea.  Seth  Hickok,  New  Canaan  :  Deacon  Hyde,  Greens- 
farms  ;  Benjamin  Lynes,  Ridgebury ;  Daniel  K.  Nash,  Norwalk. 


58  ANNIVERSARY   OF   THE 

and  clearly  arranged  sermons  tended  to  enlighten  the  con- 
science, to  produce  harmony,  and  to  elevate  the  standard  of 
religious  life.  And  it  might  be  added,  if  this  were  the  two 
hundredth  anniversary  of  the  foundation  of  this  Church, 
that  his  family — of  which  Mrs.  Merwin  was  the  pattern,  and 
with  her  husband  the  head,  bringing  with  them  the  culture 
of  a  lifetime  in  New  Haven — exerted,  unconsciously  perhaps, 
a  refining  and  healthful  influence  upon  many  households.  It 
is  significant,  that  the  first  young  lady  to  recite  in  Latin  in  the 
Wilton  Academy  was  a  daughter  of  Mr.  Merwin. 

The  health  of  Mr.  Merwin  had  been  impaired  by  the 
amount  of  labor  incident  to  the  large  numbers  gathered  icto 
the  New  Haven  Church  during  his  ministry.  As  years  went 
on  it  did  not  improve  in  Wilton,  and  he  asked  for  a  dis- 
mission. The  Church  at  first  opposed,  but  consented  to  call 
the  Consociation,  and  the  pastoral  relation  was  dissolved  the 
25th  of  September,  1838.  Mr.  Merwin  removed  to  New 
Haven,  and,  though  not  again  undertaking  a  pastoral  charge, 
was  active  in  Christian  work  in  various  ways ;  was  helpful  as 
a  member  of  occasional  Councils ;  was  often  consulted  in 
Ecclesiastical  matters,  and  enjoyed  in  a  high  degree  the 
respect  and  confidence  of  the  Christian  public.  His  pleasure 
in  the  study  of  the  Word  of  God  seemed  to  increase  as  the 
years  went  on.  He  was  remarkably  gifted  in  prayer,  in 
which  the  words  of  the  inspired  writers  were  continually 
quoted  with  surprising  facility  and  aptness.  It  was  his  joy 
in  the  declining  years  of  his  life  "to  visit  the  afflicted  with 
Christian  consolation,  to  pray  by  the  bedside  of  the  sick  or 
dying,  and  to  preach  the  Gospel  to  the  poor."  His  custom 
on  the  Sabbath  was  to  conduct  a  religious  service  in  the 
Chapel  of  the  Almshouse. 

On  the  25th  of  February,  1855,  he  preached  a  semi- 
centennial sermon  in  the  North  Church,  commemorative  of 
his  pastorate  there  and  in  Wilton.  This  (at  the  request  of 
Governor  Button,  James  Brewster  and  others)  was  published, 
and,  happily,  prefaced  with  an  excellent  likeness  of  Mr. 
Merwin.  On  the  22d  of  October  the  same  year,  Mr.  and 
Mrs.  Merwin  and  their  two  sons  and  five  daughters,  with  their 


WILTON   CONGREGATIONAL   CHURCH.  59' 

sons-in-law  and  daughters-in-law  (six  ministers  in  all  and 
eight  graduates,  the  family  having  lost  none  by  death),  cele- 
brated their  golden  wedding  amid  the  congratulations  of 
many  friends.  Before  another  year,  on  the  3d  of  September, 
1856,  Mr.  Merwin  departed  this  life. 

In  preaching  at  his  funeral  Dr.  Bacon  said  :*  "  The  close 
of  his  life  was  in  perfect  harmony  with  its  course.  Paralysis 
had  impaired  his  physical  strength,  and  to  some  extent  the 
clearness  of  his  memory  and  the  activity  of  his  mental 
powers,  yet  life  had  not  become  a  burden ;  and  while  he 
knew  that  death  was  at  the  door,  and  was  in  daily  expecta- 
tion of  the  summons,  he  could  enjoy,  with  a  cheerful  and 
grateful  mind,  the  society  and  the  assiduous  attention  of  her 
with  whom  he  had  walked  hand  in  hand  for  more  than  fifty 
years  and  of  their  children  who  gathered  around  him  from 
their  homes  ;  and  when  he  lay  upon  the  bed  from  which  he 
was  to  rise  no  more,  while  all  the  delights  of  earth  and  time- 
were  failing,  he  delighted  still  in  prayer.  At  my  last  visit  to- 
him  we  had  kneeled  at  his  bedside  to  pray,  and  when  the 
words  from  my  lips  were  ended,  his  own  voice  took  up  the 
strains  of  supplication,  and  in  his  own  tones,  and  his  own 
characteristic  style  of  utterance,  with  no  fault  of  memory  or 
connection,  and  with  no  iteration  of  petitions  already  offered, 
he  led  us  again  to  the  Throne  of  Grace.  Thus,  calmly,, 
meekly,  patiently,  devoutly,  he  died,  as  he  had  lived,  know- 
ing in  whom  he  had  believed." f 

During  Mr.  Merwin's  ministry  here,  a  great  tempest  of 
controversy  raged  in  Connecticut,  and  elsewhere,  on  questions 
of  religious  doctrine,  in  which  some  of  the  members  of  Fair- 
field  West  Association  were  deeply  interested,  and  the 
Churches  much  divided.  The  East  Windsor  (now  Hartford); 
Theological  Institute  grew  out  of  that  discussion.  Happily, 
Mr.  Merwin,  while  holding  decidedly  to  the  theology  he  had) 
learned  from  Dwight  and  Edwards,  and  in  full  sympathy 

*  Congregational  Year  Book,  1857,  p.  119. 

t  Mr.  Merwin  was  of  medium  stature  and  size,  erect,  active,  and  walked  with  elastic 
step.  He  had  dark  eyes,  a  benevolent  countenance ;  in  conversation  was  grave  or 
cheerful,  as  occasion  served  ;  spoke  with  a  deep,  musical  voice,  and  so  well  balanced 
was  his  judgment  that  he  rarely  gave  utterance  to  words  he  would  wish  to  recall. 


60  ANNIVERSARY  OF   THE 

with  New  Haven  Divinity,  as  it  was  called,  continued  to 
preach  as  he  had  been  accustomed  to  do  before,  and  this 
Church  was  not  agitated  by  that  storm.  After  the  dis- 
mission of  Mr.  Merwin  numerous  candidates  were  heard, 
of  whom  Eev.  Henry  Benedict,  formerly  Pastor  four  years 
in  Norwalk*  and.  afterwards  for  twelve  years  acting- 
Pastor  in  Westport,  received  a  call,  which  he  declined. 

On  the  22d  of  February,  1839,  Kev.  JOHN  SMITH  was  in- 
stalled the  ninth  Pastor  of  this  Church.  Mr.  Smith  was  a  gradu- 
ate of  Yale  College  in  1821.  He  was  born  in  Wethersfield,  Ct, 
September  2d,  1796,  the  son  of  James  and  Sarah  (Hanmer) 
Smith.  He  studied  theology  two  years  at  Andover,  and  one 
year  at  Princeton,  was  licensed  to  preach  by  Fairfield  East  Asso- 
ciation April  24th,  1824,  and  ordained  Pastor  of  the  Presbyte- 
rian Church  in  Trenton,  New  Jersey,  on  the  8th  of  March,  1826. 
This  charge  he  resigned  in  August,  1828,  and  the  12th  of 
March  following  (1829)  was  installed  Pastor  of  the  Congrega- 
tional Church  in  Exeter,  New  Hampshire.  After  a  pastorate 
of  about  nine  years  he  was  dismissed  February  14th,  1838. 
After  spending  a  portion  of  the  year  as  an  agent  of  the 
American  Tract  Society,  he  was  installed  here  the  22d  of 
February,  1839.  Three  years  later  occurred  one  of  the  most 
remarkable  revivals  in  the  history  of  the  Church,  as  a  result 
of  which  the  second  Sabbath  in  May,  1 842,  ninety -five  were 
added  to  the  Church,  ninety-three  or  four  by  profession, 
about  half  of  whom  were  baptized  at  that  time.  Mr.  Smith 
had  some  excellent  gifts  for  pastoral  work,  in  which  he  was 
untiring.  He  was  interested  in  the  schools,  and  a  portion 
of  the  time  School  Visitor.  His  presence  was  understood  to 
be  welcome  in  neighboring  Churches  when  he  exchanged. 
Without  being  showy  his  sermons  were  sound  in  doctrine, 
and  furnished  food  for  profitable  thought.  He  was  a  man  of 
peace,  and  spiritually  minded.  His  conduct  and  conversation 
tended  to  promote  unity  and  brotherly  love.  Above  one 
hundred  and  thirty  were  received  to  the  Church  during  his 
ministry. 

*  1828-1832. 


WILTON   CONGREGATIONAL   CHURCH.  6l 

Next  to  the  revival  of  1842  the  event  of  his  ministry  was 
the  remodeling  of  the  Church  edifice.  At  its  annual  meet- 
ing, about  the  beginning  of  the  year  1844,  the  Society  voted 
to  remove  the  sounding-board  from  above  the  pulpit  Before 
the  meeting  adjourned,  a  member*  who  was  expert  in  the 
use  of  tools  had  appointed  himself  a  Committee,  procured  a 
saw,  and  carried  the  vote  into  execution.  But  now  the 
crowning  glory  of  the  house  was  gone.  The  need  of  doing 
more  was  painfully  apparent.  A  movement  was  soon  made, 
in  which  the  present  Senior  Deacon  was  foremost,  to  raise  a 
fund,  lower  the  galleries,  reseat  the  house,  build  a  new  pulpit, 
and  to  make  such  other  changes  within  and  without  as  con- 
venience and  taste  required.  Rarely  has  an  undertaking  to 
modernize  an  old  house  been  more  successful.  While  the 
work  was  in  progress  the  usual  Sabbath  services  were  held 
in  the  Conference  room.  Most  of  those  who  were  active  in 
this  work — men  and  women  honored  and  beloved,  and  espe- 
cially dear  to  many  who  are  here — sleep  with  their  fathers, 
who  built  the  house  fifty -five  years  earlier.  Others  yet  sur- 
vive to  enjoy,  with  a  younger  generation,  the  fruit  of  their 
labors  and  gifts  for  the  house  of  the  Lord.f 

In  1848  Mr.  Smith  asked  a  dismission.  Action  in  calling 
Consociation  was  delayed  several  months.  He  was  dismissed 
in  June.  On  the  26th  of  July,  1848,  he  was  installed  Pastor 
in  Kingston,  New  Hampshire,  where  he  remained  till  early 
in  the  year  1855.  Removing  to  Stamford,  Conn.,  he  preached 
about  two  years  (1856-1858)  in  Long  Ridge  and  occasionally 
elsewhere.  He  continued  to  reside  in  Stamford  with  his  sons 
— who  were  successful  merchants  in  New  York — till  his 
death,  from  pneumonia,  the  20th  of  February,  1874,  in  his 
seventy -eighth  year. 

Mr.  Smith  was  married  September  llth,  1826,  to  Miss 
Esther  Mary  Woodruff,  daughter  of  Hon.  Dickinson  Wood- 
ruff, of  Trenton,  N.  J.  About  a  year  after  his  settlement 
here  she  suddenly  died,  leaving  him  with  six  children,:}:  the 

*  Mr.  Henry  G.  Middlebrook. 

t  A  Fair  was  held  to  aid  in  procuring  furniture.    See  Appendix. 

$  Their  names  were  Susan,  James  D.,  Charles,  Esther,  Walter,  and  Maria. 


•62  ANNIVERSARY   OF  THE 

youngest  a  daughter,  whose  eyes  first  opened  to  the  light  a 
few  hours  before.  The  grave  of  Mrs.  Smith  is  with  the 
mothers'  and  daughters'  of  this  people ;  but  that  great  sorrow 
cast  a  shadow  over  all  his  subsequent  life  in  Wilton.  In 
1843  he  married  Miss  Louisa  Gridley,  of  Middletown,  now 
Cromwell,  who  died  (without  children)  some  time  before  her 
husband. 

When  Mr.  Smith  was  dismissed,  there  was  in  the  Divinity 
School  at  New  Haven,  and  in  the  College  Faculty  as  Tutor, 
a  young  man,  who  had  graduated  five  years  before,  at  Yale, 
with  the  highest  honor ;  who  was  born  in  India,  and  bore  the 
name  of  his  father,  who ,  was  one  of  those  godly  men  that 
prayed  at  Williams  for  the  heathen,  and  petitioned  the  Gen- 
eral Association  of  Massachusetts  to  aid  the  young  men  who 
desired  to  go  and  preach  to  the  heathen,  and  who,  when  hav- 
ing reached  Calcutta,  and  having  been  refused  permission  to 
stay  in  India,  with  his  associates,  so  wisely  and  vigorously 
reasoned  with  the  authorities,  that,  after  a  protracted  and 
painful  struggle,  consent  was  obtained,  and  he  remained  a 
"  wise,  intrepid,  patient,  self-sacrificing  missionary "  till,  in 
1826,  while  on  a  journey,  having  been  attacked  by  the 
cholera,  lying  on  the  veranda  of  a  heathen  temple,  GORDON 
HALL  breathed  out  his  life  with  the  thrice  repeated  words : 
"Glory  to  Thee,  O  God."  The  son,  with  his  mother, 
Mrs.  Margaret  (Lewis)  Hall,  reached  this  country  a  little  be- 
fore his  father's  death.  It  happened  that  two  of  his  College 
classmates*  were  natives  of  Wilton,  one  of  whom  was  also  a 
Tutor  at  that  time.  Mr.  Hall,  after  preaching  a  few  Sab- 
baths, received  a  call  to  the  pastorate.  October  10th  he  was 
married  to  Miss  Emily,  youngest  daughter  of  Rev.  Samuel 
Merwin,  and  on  the  25th  of  October,  1848 — a  little  more  than 
ten  years  after  Mr.  Merwin's  dismission — Mr.  Hall  was  or- 
dained Pastor.  The  pastorate  continued  till  the  4th  of  May, 
1852,  when  he  was  dismissed,  that  he  might  accept  a  call  to 
the  Edwards  Church,  Northampton,  Mass.,  over  which  he 
was  installed  a  month  later,  the  2d  of  June,  1852.  Mr. 
Hall's  ministry  in  Wilton,  though  brief,  was  fruitful  in  addi- 

*  Lewis  R.  Hurlbatt,  M.D.,  of  Stamford,  and  Charles  Jones,  Esq.,  of  New  York. 


WILTON  "CONGREGATIONAL   CHURCH.  63 

tions  to  the  Church  and  in  the  quickened  lives  of  Christians. 
Sixty-six  were  added  to  the  communicants.  The  blessing 
that  attended  his  labors  equalled  the  hopes  of  his  friends. 
Had  the  Committee  of  the  Edwards  Church,  whose  report  oc- 
casioned his  call  thither,  heard  some  of  the  comments  on  their 
proceedings,  they  might  have  accepted  them  as  evidence  of 
their  sagacity  in  choosing  for  their  Pastor  one  from  whom  his 
people  would  not  willingly  part  In  1864  Mr.  Hall  received 
D.  D.  from  Amherst  College. 

While  all  his  predecessors  in  office  in  this  Church,  and  his 
two  immediate  successors,  are  no  longer  on  earth,  happily, 
Dr.  Hall  yet  lives,  honored  and  beloved.  And  we  may  hope 
that  when  this  Church,  in  the  first  year  of  the  next  century, 
shall  celebrate  its  one  hundred  and  seventy-fifth  anniversary, 
or  the  Town  its  Centennial  in  1902,  he  may  be  permitted  to 
honor  the  occasion  with  his  presence,  and  receive  the  con- 
gratulations of  those  who  are  then  here,  that  he  has  celebrated 
his  golden  -wedding. 

It  was  the  6th  of  July,  1853,  when  the  next  Pastor, 
THOMAS  SCOTT  BRADLEY,  was  ordained.  Mr.  Bradley  was 
born  at  Lee,  Mass.,  the  eldest  son  of  Eli  Bradley,*  April 
15th,  1825.  His  ancestors  were  God-fearing  people,  and  he 
united  with  the  Church,  in  Lee,  at  the  age  of  sixteen.  At 
twenty  he  entered  Williams  College,  and  graduated  in  184-8, 
with  an  honorable  stand.  Three  years  later,  in  the  Class 
of  1851,  he  graduated  at  And  over  Seminary.  Next,  'he 
spent  six  months  with  Rev.  John  Todd,  D.D.,  in  Pittsfield, 
Mass.,  in  parish  work.  He  preached  meantime  in  Lanes- 
boro',  Mass.,  and  afterwards  six  months  in  Cornwall,  Conn. 
Mr.  Bradley  was  tall,  strongly  built,  energetic,  rapid  in  his 
movements,  earnest  in  his "  convictions,  and  prudent  in 
speech.  He  was  a  popular  preacher,  affable  in  conversation, 
and  fond  of  practical  matters;  but  the  condition  of  his 
health  did  not  encourage  protracted  application  in  the  study, 
and,  in  1857,  he  was  dismissed  at  his  own  request,  f  For  a 


*  Dnrfee's  Annals  of  Williams  College,  p.  171. 

*  A  sermon  preached  at  the  funeral  of  Mrs.  Abby  (Gregory)  Willard,  January,  1857, 
was  published. 


64  ANNIVERSARY   OF   THE 

time  he  taught,  with  marked  ability,  the  High  School  in 
South  Norwalk.  Afterwards  he  became  Pastor  in  New 
Lebanon,  New  York.  In  1862  he  accepted  a  commission 
of  Captain  in  the  Ninth  Company  of  New  York  Sharp- 
shooters, in  which,  through  his  influence,  many  of  his  young- 
men  enlisted.  He  was  sent  to  Suffolk,  Virginia,  and,  in 
withstanding  a  siege  and  as  skirmishers,  the  Company  saw 
much  hard  service.  Mr.  Bradley's  health  failed  from  long 
exposure  in  the  trenches,  and  he  set  out  on  a  furlough  for  the 
North  ;  but  at  Philadelphia  the  typhoid  fever  prostrated  him. 
He  greatly  desired  to  reach  home  and  see  his  friends  once 
more ;  but  that  was  not  granted.  He  telegraphed  for  Mrs. 
Bradley,  who  came  and  did  what  she  could,  till  on  the  28th 
of  June,  1863,  at  the  age  of  thirty-eight,  he  died.  His  body 
was  buried  by  the  side  of  his  father  in  Lee. 

Before  coming  to  Wilton  he  married  Miss  Harriet  K 
Reed,  of  Milan,  Ohio,  where  he  had  for  some  time  taught 
a  school.  They  had  two  children — Samuel  E.  Bradley  and 
Hattie  Bell  Bradley — both  living.  Mrs.  Bradley  returned  to 
her  father's  in  Milan,  and  died  with  consumption. 

The  successor  of  Mr.  Bradley  in  Wilton  was  CHARLE& 
BASSETT  BALL,  who  was  ordained  here  the  20th  of  January, 
1858.  Mr.  Ball*  was  a  townsman  of  Mr.  Bradley,  having 
been  born  in  Lee,  Mass.,  the  9th  of  July,  1825.  He  was  the 
son  of  Isaac  and  Lydia  Ball,  and  graduated  at  Williams  in 
the  Class  of  1846.  The  condition  of  his  health  turned  him 
from  the  ministry,  and  he  taught  for  some  time  in  the  pleasant 
village  of  Southampton,  L.  I.  Then  he  studied  law,  and 
practiced  some  years  in  Springfield,  Mass.  The  improvement 
in  his  health  led  him  to  turn  again  to  his  early  thought  of 
preaching  the  Gospel.  He  studied  theology  for  awhile  at 
East  Windsor.  His  call  to  this  Church  was  by  no  means 
unanimous, -but  his  excellent  spirit,  his  desire  for  the  con- 
version of  sinners,  his  skill  in  conversing  with  his  parish- 
ioners, his  open-hearted  friendliness,  and  the  manifest  divine 
approval  of  his  ministry,  won  the  hearts  of  his  people.  The 

*  Durfee's  Annals,  p.  561. 


WILTON    CONGREGATIONAL   CHURCH.  65 

year  was  highly  prosperous.  Thirty-one  were  added  to  the 
Church  by  profession.  At  his  death,  which  occurred  sud- 
denly, January  27th,  1859,  in  consequence  of  a  malignant 
tumor  near  the  lower  jaw,  there  was  universal  lamentation. 
A  delegation  from  the  congregation  carried  his  mortal  re- 
mains to  Lee  for  burial.  He  was  in  the  thirty-fourth  year  of 
his  age. 

Before  coming  to  Wilton  he  married  Miss  Sarah  Huntting, 
of  Southampton,  Long  Island,  who  is  now  Mrs.  William  J. 
Bartlett,  of  Lee,  Mass.  He  left  a  daughter,  Hattie  S.,  born 
January,  1859. 

In  the  October  following  Mr.  Ball's  decease,  the  Church 
called  Rev.  SAMUEL  R.  DIMOCK,  who  was  installed  December 
7th,  1859.  Mr.  Dimock  was  a  native  of  Coventry,  Tolland 
County,  Ct,  born  May  28,  1822,  nurtured  in  Mansfield,  a 
graduate  with  honor  of  Yale  in  the  Class  of  1847,  a  teacher  of 
a  private  school  for  several  years  in  Manchester,  Conn.  His 
first  settlement  was  at  Valentia,  Kinderhook,  N.  Y.  He  was 
dismissed  from  Wilton,  June  8th,  1861,  and  installed  over  the 
South  Church,  Pittsfield,  Mass.,  the  24th  of  September  the 
same  year.  Three  years  after  he  accepted  a  call  to  Syracuse, 
where  he  was  installed  the  14th  of  September,  1864.  Taking 
a  dismission  from  Syracuse,  October  13th,  1868,  his  next 
parish  was  in  Quincy,  Illinois,  in  which  he  remained  about 
two  years.  Thence  he  removed  to  Nebraska ;  first  to  Crete 
in  1871,  then  became  Pastor  in  1872  of  the  Church  in  Lin- 
coln, where  he  was  succeeded  last  year  by  one  of  our  own 
townsmen,*  whom  we  would  gladly  have  with  us  to-day.  In 
1875  he  became  acting-Pastor  of  the  Church  in  Central  City, 
Colorado. 

In  1849  Mr.  Dimock  was  married  to  Miss  Louisa  S. 
Dirnock,  who  died  at  Manchester  in  1855.  In  1858  he  mar- 
ried Miss  Anna  S.  Husted. 

The  successor  of  Mr.  Dimock  in  the  pastoral  office  here 
was  the  Rev.  WHEELOCK  NYE  HARVEY,  of  Massachusetts 
stock,  a  native  of  Jamestown,  Chatauque  County,  N.  Y.,  born 


*  Rev.  Lewis  Gregory,  Y  C.,  1864,  grandson  of  Moses,  and  son  of  Charles  and  Harriet 
(Clark)  Gregory. 


66  ANNIVERSARY   OF   THE 

April  loth,  1825,  the  son  of  Charles  R  and  Olive  (Willard- 
Harvey,  a  graduate  of  the  New  York  University  in  1844. 
Mr.  Harvey  studied  divinity  at  the  Union  Theological 
Seminary,  New  York,  was  ordained  Pastor  at  Bethel,  Conn., 
May  18th,  1853,  where  lie  remained  about  five  years.  Octo- 
ber 24th,  1858,  he  began  as  Pastor  elect  to  minister  to  the 
Second  Church  in  Milford.  He  remained  in  that  relation 
three  years,  when  he  received  a  call  to  Wilton,  and  was  in- 
stalled January  1st,  1862.  The  records  of  the  Church  show 
that  his  ministry  here  was  profitable.  Forty-seven  were 
added  to  the  Church,  thirty  of  whom  came  by  profession. 

Mr.  Harvey's  health  was  so  much  impaired  that,  much  to 
the  regret  of  the  Church,  he  felt  the  necessity  of  relief  from 
pastoral  labor.  He  was  dismissed  October  15th,  1867.  He 
now  resides  in  New  York.  A  difficulty  in  hearing  led  him 
to  relinquish  the  work  of  preaching,  which  he  greatly  loved, 
and  go  into  business  with  his  father.* 

He  married  Miss  Margaret  Lewis,  daughter  of  Edward  and 
Cynthia  (Gildersleeve)  Lewis,  of  Portland,  Conn.,  a  graduate 
of  Mount  Holy  eke  Seminary.  They  have  four  children  : 
Alice,  Lewis,  Hattie  and  Charlie. 

The  fifteenth  Pastor  of  this  Church,  Rev.  SAMUEL  J.  M. 
MERWIN,  was  a  graduate  of  Yale  in  the  Class  of  1839,  or- 
dained Pastor  of  the  Church  in  Southport,  December  18th, 
1844,  and  was  dismissed,  at  his  own  request,  May  3d,  1859. 
After  a  season  of  rest  he  was  installed  over  the  Church  at 
South  Hadley  Falls,  Massachusetts,  December  4th,  1860. 
The  call  to  this  Church,  as  successor  to  his  father  and  brother, 
was  accepted  in  1868,  and  he  was  installed  by  the  Consocia- 
tion the  26th  of  October  the  same  year.  Happily,  Mr.  Mer- 
win's  ministry  has  not  yet  passed  into  history,  and  as  the 
honored  Pastor  of  the  Church  of  which  he  was  the  foster  son, 
with  which  he  united  by  confession  of  faith  above  forty 
years  ago,  he  has  no  need  that  another  should  speak  for  him 
to-day. 

Among  the  memorable  things  of  the  last  eight  years  is  the 

*  A  sermon  preached  by  Mr.  Harvey,  on  Thanksgiving  Day,  November,  1863,  was 
published. 


WILTON   CONGREGATIONAL   CHURCH.  67 

building  of  a  new  and  commodious  chapel,  with  conveniences 
for  the  work  of  the  Ladies'  Society  attached  ;  also,  the  intro- 
duction of  a  large  and  excellent  organ.  These  are  pleasing 
evidences  that  in  material  prosperity  the  Church  and  Society 
are  not  decaying,  and  that  it  is  not  altogether  unmindful 
of  the  duties  which  its  opportunities  impose. 

There  are  many  topics,  and  many  persons,  who,  to-day, 
should  be  remembered  by  us,  as  reverent  and  dutiful  children. 
There  are  many  whose  names  even  are  forgotten,  and  of 
whose  individual  lives  we  are  ignorant,  who  worthily  contri- 
buted to  build  not  the  material  houses  of  worship  only,  but 
the  spiritual  walls  of  this  Church.  Though  we  pass  them  in 
silence  they  may  well  have  our  honor  and  gratitude  sharing 
these  with  those  we  knew  and  loved,  whom  the  time 
would  fail  to  mention.  Yet  there  are  a  few  whom  the  Church 
honored  by  calling  them  to  special  service,  which  they  render- 
ed with  alacrity  and  fidelity.  These  are  the  men,  who  used 
the  office  of  Deacon  well.  Of  these  we  have  the  names  of 
twenty-two,  but  unhappily,  for  the  first  hundred  years  and 
more,  there  is,  with  few  exceptions,  no  record  of  their 
election,  and  rarely  one  of  their  death.  Apparently  they  died 
in  office,  except  perhaps  two  or  three  who  removed  from  the 
place. 

The  first  three  mentioned  are  Benjamin  Hickok,  Jonathan 
Elmer  and  James  Trowbridge.  These  were  probably  original 
members  of  the  Church,  since  they  were  a  part  of  the  Com- 
mittee appointed  by  the  Society  to  make  arrangements  for 
the  settlement  of  Mr.  Sturgeon. 

Deacon  Hickok  is  supposed  to  have  left  a  son,  Benjamin, 
who  united  with  the  Church  by  the  Half- Way  Covenant,  with 
his  wife,  March  27,  1763,  who  was  the  father  of  Esther,  the 
wife  of  Dea.  Daniel  Gregory,  and  lived  to  an  advanced  age. 

The  house  of  the  son — perhaps  of  the  father — stood  near 
the  spot  occupied  by  the  building  now  used  for  the  Academy, 
and  was  torn  down  early  in  this  century.  "  Benjamin  Hic- 
kok, Esq.,"  who  died  the  17th  of  November,  1745,  aged  59 
years,  was  probably  the  Deacon. 

Dea.  Jonathan   Elmer  was  chosen,  before  the  Church  had  a 


68  ANNIVERSARY   OF   THE 

Pastor,  to  read  the  Psalm.  As  few  had  Psalrn  Books,  we 
may  understand  that  he  read  only  one  or  two  lines  at  a  time, 
so  that  all  who  could,  might  sing  the  words.  This  was  called 
"  lining  "  and  sometimes  "  deaconing  "  the  hymn.  There  was  an 
Eliakim  Elmer,  who  lived  near  the  Bridge  on  the  Eidgefield 
Road  in  1738 ;  but  Deacon  Elmer's  name  does  not,  I  believe, 
occur  after  1746.  Jonathan  Elmer,  probably  a  son  of  the  Dea- 
con, united  with  the  Church  in  June.  1742. 

Of  Dea.  James  Trowbridge  there  is  no  information,  and  the 
name  early  disappears  from  the  Church  records.  In  New 
Canaan  the  name  remains. 

Dea.  Matthew  Gregory,  was  born  in  1680.  The  place  of  his 
birth  is  not  known.  Some  of  his  grandchildren  believed 
that  he  came  from  England.  He  is  supposed  to  have  been  in 
Wilton  as  early  as  1718.*  He  had  two  sons,  Ezra  and  Mat- 
thew ;  the  latter  known  also  as  Ensign  Matthew,  who  was  the 
father  of  Dea.  Daniel  Gregory.  He  died  in  1777,  at  the  age 
of  97  years,  the  year  following  the  death  of  his  son  Ezra.  His 
wife  Hannah  had  died  ten  years  earlier.  His  son  Matthew 
died  October  30,  1756,  aged  45  years.  A  well-worn  path 
through  the  fields  west  of  his  house  signified  to  his  children 
his  daily  habit  of  secret  communing  with  God. 

Dea.  James  Keeler  is  not  identified,  except  Feb.  18,  1759, 
James  Keeler  and  wife  were  received  to  the  Church  on  the 
Half- Way  Covenant.  When  they  became  communicants  is  not 
stated. 

Dea,  James  Olmstead  is  believed  to  have  been  the  son  of 
Samuel  Olmstead.  He  had  a  son  James  who  had  a  son  Aaron, 
who  was  the  father  of  Hawley  Olmstead,  LL.D.  His  name, 
with  that  of  Mary  his  wife,  occurs  on  the  Church  records  as 
admitted  by  the  Half- Way  Covenant,  Feb.  22,  1756.  In  1776 
he  is  called  Deacon  Olmstead.  On  a  stone  of  gray  marble  in 
the  old  burying-ground,  we  read  that  he  died  March  17,  1777, 
aged  68  years. 

Dea.  Nathan  Comstock  is  first  mentioned  as  Deacon,  Dec.  15, 


*  His  letter  to  the  Church  wa8  brought  from  Norwalk,  1740.  His  house  was  a  few  rods 
north  of  that  builded  about  1740  for  his  son  Ezra,  iu  which  his  grandson  Moses  lived, 
and  his  great-granddaughter,  Miss  Clara  M.  Gregory,  now  resides. 


WILTON  CONGREGATIONAL   CHURCH.  69 

1766.  Among  those  married  by  Mr.  Gaylord,  are  (March  7, 
1738-9)  Nathan  Comstock  and  Bethiah  Strong.  In  1740,  he 
united  with  the  Church.  Major  Samuel  Comstock  and  Strong 
Oomstock,  the  father  of  Samuel,  Edward,  William  and  Nathan, 
were  his  children.  His  residence  was  probably  the  house  in 
which  his  grandchildren,  Edward  and  Polly  Comstock,  lived, 
a  little  west  of  the  road  from  Belden's  Hill  to  Ridgefield,  near 
its  junction  with  the  Ridgefield  road. 

Dea.  Nathan  Hubbell. — In  May,  1747,  there  came  by  letter 
from  Greenfield  three  men  with  their  wives  and  the  wife  of  a 
fourth,  who  was  a  son  of  one  of  the  three.  One  of  these 
couples  was  Nathan  Hubbell  and  Martha,  his  wife.  Eight 
years  later,  December  2,  1755,  Mrs.  Hubbell,  the  wife  of  Na- 
than, died,  aged  53  years ;  and  1761,  Feb.  6,  Nathan  Hubbell 
died,  aged  61  years.  Three  years  later,  June  17,  1764,  Capt. 
Nathan  Hubbell  was  received  to  the  Church.  In  the  absence 
of  evidence  to  the  contrary,  it  is  easy  to  believe  that  he  was 
the  son  of  the  afore-mentioned  Nathan  Hubbell.  He  became 
Deacon  Hubbell,  Aug.  23,  1786,  and  had  a  son  who  bore  his 
name,  who  spent  his  life  in  Wilton,  and  died  here  February 
2,  1847,  in  h:s  eighty  iourth  year ;  leaving  two  sons,  one  of 
whom,  Rev.  Stephen  Hubbell,  was  then  nearly  seventeen 
37ears  in  the  Ministry.  The  older  son,  Wakeman,  was  yet  to  be 
Deacon.  Deacon  Hubbell  was  evidently  an  active,  reliable, 
influential  man.  But  tradition  has  preserved  little  of  his  ser- 
vices. The  house  in  which  he,  his  children  and  theirs,  lived 
in  Pimpewaug,  for  above  a  hundred  years,  has  just  been  sold. 

Some  yet  living  remember  Dea.  Daniel  Gregory,  who  was 
chosen  Deacon,  Oct.  7,  1794,  and  at  once  inducted  into  office. 
His  relation  to  Dea.  Matthew  Gregory  has  already  been  men- 
tioned. He  was  the  grandfather  of  William  D.  Gregory.  In 
the  place  of  an  older  one,  he  built  the  house  on  the  hill  west 
of  this  house  of  worship,  in  which  the  latter  lives.*  He  died 
April  18,  1821,  at  the  age  of  seventy-eight  He  united  with 
the  Church  August  5,  1764,  so  that  he  was  a  member  fifty- 
seven  years,  and  a  Deacon  twenty-seven.  His  wife,  Esther 

*  His  children  were  Abigail,  Elijah,  Giles,  Clark,  Daniel  and  Sherman. 


70  ANNIVERSARY   OF  THE 

Hickok,  supposed  to  be  the  granddaughter  of  Dea.  Benjamin 
Hickok,  was  a  fitting  helper  in  every  good  work,  and  died 
May  13,  1822,  at  the  age  of  seventy-seven  years.  Deacon 
Gregory  believed  in  covenant  mercies,  and  a  granddaughter 
gratefully  remembered  many  years  after,  his  frequent  prayer 
for  his  "  children  and  his  children's  children  unto  the  third  and 
fourth  generation."  He  was  a  thrifty  farmer,  given  to  hospital- 
ity. 

Dea.  Jesse  St.  John  was  a  soldier  of  the  Revolution,  and  a 
member  of  one  of  the  two  "  forlorn  hopes"  of  twenty  men 
each,  which  volunteered  to  lead  the  attack  in  that  desperate 
but  brilliant  surprise  and  capture  of  Stony  Point,  on  the 
night  of  July  16th,  1779,  by  General  Anthony  Wayne. 
Deacon  St.  John  was  not  tall,  but  strongly  built,  capable  of 
enduring  much  fatigue;  a  man  of  few  words  and  resolute  in 
purpose.  As  late  as  1841  he  would  walk  from  his  home, 
west  of  the  lower  part  of  Belden's  Hill,  two  and  a  half  miles, 
to  attend  a  Preparatory  lecture  in  a  hot  day  in  summer. 
Soon  after  that  time  he  removed  to  Brooklyn,  E.  D.  (N.  Y.), 
to  spend  the  remainder  of  his  life  with  his  son  Thomas  St. 
John.  His  death  occurred  about  1846.  His  wife  was  Anna 
Weed,  to  whom  he  was  married  Sept.  28,  1790.  She  died 
the  18th  of  March,  1829,  aged  73  years. 

Dea.  John  Chapman  was  born  in  that  part  of  Fairfield 
which  is  now  in  Westport,  in  March,  1759.  He  married 
Susannah  Fitch,  daughter  of  James  Fitch  of  Norwalk,  and 
about  1790  removed  to  Chestnut  Hill,  where  he  lived  in  the 
house  now  occupied  by  his  son-in-law,  Mr.  Asahel  Dudley,  till 
his  death,  April  13th,  1816.  Mrs.  Chapman  was  born  Dec. 
24th,  1756,  and  died  March  14,  1833.  They  had  four  chil- 
dren, AnnaH.  (Mrs.  Dudley),  James  Fitch,  John  and  Clark  M. 
,  One  who  knew  him  well  says :  "  Deacon  Chapman  was  erect,  six 
feet  two  inches  in  height,  muscular  and  broad  shouldered,  of 
commanding  presence,  calm,  even  tempered  but  very  resolute, 
energetic  and  industrious.  Decided  in  his  opinions,  he  was 
yet  gentle  in  his  family,  who  loved  and  venerated  him.  An 
excellent  singer,  he  was  regularly  in  his  place  in  the  choir  on 


WILTON   CONGREGATIONAL   CHURCH.  71 

Sunday.  After  a  hard  day's  work  he  would  go  to  Norwalk 
on  business,  and  on  his  way  home,  forgetful  of  time,  spend 
several  hours  at  the  house  of  some  friend  in  singing.  Fond 
of  home,  of  a  retiring  disposition,  he  seldom  took  the 
lead  unless  evidently  called  by  duty.  His  Christian  char- 
acter was  marked  and  consistent." 

His  son,  John  Chapman,  inherited  his  father's  love  for  music, 
and  led  the  choir  fifty  years  ago.  Both  he  and  James  F. 
were  much  respected.  They  went  into  business  in  New  York, 
and  died  there  ;  the  latter,  at  the  age  of  55  years,  Sept.  29, 
1847.  Tradition  says  the  house  in  which  Deacon  Chapman 
lived  was  built  about  1745.  It  was  used  early  in  the  Revolu- 
tion as  a  storehouse  for  some  Norwalk  goods.  At  the  time 
of  the  burning  of  Danbury,  a  scouting  party  entered  it  and 
destroyed  many  of  the  goods. 

Dea.  Matthew  Marvin,  the  sixth  in  descent  from  that 
Matthew  Marvin  who,  coming  to  this  country  in  1635,*  in 
the  ship  Increase,  Eobert  Lea,  master,  settled  at  Hartford ; 
the  fifth  in  descent  from  that  Matthew  Marvin  who,  at  the 
age  of  eight  years,  came  with  his  father  from  England,  and, 
at  the  age  of  twenty -four,  came  one  of  the  first  settlers  to  Nor- 
walk ;  was  the  son  of  that  Matthew  Marvin  who,  about  1760, 
came  from  Norwalk  and  built  the  house  in  Pimpewaug,  in 
which  the  son  Matthew  was  born  and  died,  and  in  which 
Dea.  Charles  Marvin  now  lives.  He  fitted  for  College  with 
his  Pastor  (Mr.  Lewis),  graduated  at  Yale  in  1785,  went  into 
business  at  Hudson,  N.  Y,  returned  to  Wilton  at  the  death 
of  his  father  (1791),  and  for  twenty-five  years  engaged  with 
remarkable  success  in  mercantile  affairs,  and  for  the  re- 
mainder of  his  life  was  active  in  public  and  especially  in 
Church  and  Society  matters ;  the  honored  citizen,  the  trusted 
counsellor,  the  faithful  deacon  till  his  death,  which  occurred 
in  the  eighty-second  year  of  his  age,f  on  the  5th  of  June, 
1842  ;  less  than  a  month  after  the  great  ingathering  following 
the  revival  of  that  year,  into  which  he  had  entered  with 
the  activity  of  a  younger  man.  Deacon  Marvin  or  "Esquire 

*  Dr.  N.  Bouton's  Hist.  Disc,  at  Norwalk,  1851,  p.  71. 
t  He  was  baptized  January  llth,  1761. 


72  ANNIVERSARY  OF   THE 

Marvin,"  as  he  was  more  frequently  called,  was  tall,  well 
proportioned,  dignified  and  courteous  in  manner,  active,  clear- 
headed and  resolute  ;  by  natural  gifts,  hy  education,  and  by 
possession  of  property  well  fitted  to  exercise  an  extra- 
ordinary and  salutary  influence  in  the  parish  and  town. 

Dea.  Zadok  Raymond,  son  of  Clapp  Raymond,  born  about 
1764,  united  with  the  Church  in  1811,  and  lived  in  Kent,  in 
the  house  now  for  many  years  occupied  by  Charles  Comstock; 
but  in  his  later  life  in  the  first  house  on  the  road  leading  to 
Hurlbutt  street,  formerly  occupied  by  his  brother,  Asahel 
Raymond,  where  he  died  April  12th,  1841,  at  the  age  of 
seventy-seven.  He  was  a  man,  humble,  devout  and  beloved, 
much  interested  in  benevolent  work.  The  Pastor  of  this 
Church  may  remember  when,  on  a  bright  Summer's  morning 
in  1832,  two  boys,  who  went  on  an  errand  to  Deacon  Ray- 
mond's, waited  without,  until  he  had  ended  worship  in  the 
family  and  with  the  men  who  had  come  to  work  in  the  hay- 
field.  He  evidently  believed  that  the  hired  laborer  might 
enjoy  and  be  benefited  by  such  service.  He  loved  good  men, 
and  his  house  was  often  open  for  Sunday  five  o'clock  and 
other  neighborhood  prayer-meetings. 

Dea.  Jonathan  Middkbrook  was  the  son  of  Michael  Middle- 
brook,  who  came  to  Wilton  from  Fairfield,  and,  by  the  Half- 
Way  Covenant,  united  with  the  Church  June  1st,  1766. 
Jonathan  Middlebrook  united  with  the  Church  during  the 
ministry  of  Mr.  Woodward.  The  date  of  his  election  to  the 
office  of  Deacon  is  not  found. 

His  liberal  gift  to  the  fund  of  the  Society  has  already  been 
noticed.  He  gave  also  the  land  for  the  burying  yard  on  the 
hill.  He  was  by  occupation  a  farmer.  He  died  (without 
children)  January  20th,  1832,  at  the  age  of  severity -seven 
years.  His  residence  wns  on  the  Ridgefield  road,  east  side, 
next  to  the  Davenport  place. 

Dea.  Lewis  H.  St.  John  united  with  this  Church  in  1816, 
was  chosen  Deacon  in  1841,  and  ordained  the  17th  of  Octo- 
ber of  that  year. 

He  was  a  quiet,  earnest,  spiritually  minded  man,  a  little 


WILTON   CONGREGATIONAL   CHUKCH.  73 

above  the  average  height,  with  a  soft,  pleasant  voice,  and 
gained  the  respect  and  good  will  of  the  people.  His  resi- 
dence was  in  Nod.  He  was  by  trade  a  cooper,  and  tilled  the 
land. 

Deacon  St.  John  died  August  10th,  1867,  aged  seventy- 
four  years. 

Dea.  James  Betts  was  born  in  Wilton.  His  father,  David 
Betts,  died  while  he  was  yet  a  boy.  By  great  energy  and 
self-denial  he  secured  an  education  at  the  Academy,  attended 
lectures  in  New  Haven,  and  early  began  to  teach.  Some 
time  after  Mr.  Hawley  Olmstead  had  removed  to  New  Haven, 
Mr.  Betts  rented  his  former  residence,  and  brought  to  it  his 
Family  School  for  Boys.  In  1844  he  built  a  commodious 
house  in  Stamford,  where  he  yet  remains.  His  school  has 
been  remarkably  prosperous.  One  son,  William  J.,  gradu- 
ated at  Yale,  1870,  and  another,  Alsop  Lockwood,  a  member 
of  the  Class  of  1872,  died  in  College.  Deacon  Betts  was  re- 
ceived to  the  Church  in  1825,  was  elected  and  ordained  Dea- 
con in  1841.  In  Stamford  for  thirty-two  years  he  has  well 
represented  this  Church  and  its  influence  upon  its  children. 

Dea.  Giles  Gregory  was  born  the  7th  of  October,  1806,  and 
died  February  20th,  1859.  He  was  the  youngest  son  of 
Moses  and  Abigail  Gregory,  the  great-grandson  (on  his  father's 
side)  of  Dea.  Matthew  Gregory ;  on  his  mother's  side,  the 
grandson  of  Dea,  Daniel  Gregory.  He  was  thus  descended 
by  each  parent  from  one  of  the  elder  Deacons — Dea.  Matthew 
Gregory  and  Dea.  Benjamin  Hickok.  He  was  educated  at 
the  Academy,  taught  school  many  years,  and,  after  his  father's 
death  in  1837,  engaged  actively  as  a  farmer.  He  confessed 
(Christ,  May,  1842,  was  ordained  Deacon  the  2d  of  November, 
1849,  and  was  active  in  Church,  Society,  and  town  affairs. 
His  readiness  to  render  pecuniary  or  personal  aid  to  the  poor, 
or  those  in  distress,  was  hearty  and  efficient.  His  prayers  in- 
dicated unfeigned  humility ;  his  life  testified  to  the  genuine- 
ness of  his  faith.  His  early  death,  which  occurred  February 
19th,  1859,  from  typhoid  fever,  was  lamented  by  many.  He 
resided  with  his  sisters  in  the  house  built  by,  or  for  his  grand- 


74  ANNIVERSARY   OF   THE 

father,  Ezra  Gregory,  about  1740,  but  was  never  married. 

Dea.  Wakeman  Hubbell,  the  son  of  Nathan  and  Sarah  Hub- 
bell,  was  born  in  Wilton.  He  was  firm,  conscientious  and 
earnest  to  a  high  degree.  He  was  elected  to  the  office  of 
Deacon  on  the  8th  of  February,  1860,  and  ordained  the  19th 
of  March  following,  by  his  old  Pastor,  Eev.  Sylvanus  Haight.. 
Of  his  character  and  work  I  will  speak  in  another  connection. 

Of  those  now  in  office — 

Dea.  Charles  Marvin,  who  was  ordained  Oct.  17,  1841 ; 

Dea.  Benajah  Gilbert,  ordained  March  19,  1860; 

Dea.  Edward  Olmstead,  ordained  May  1,  1870;  and 

Dea.  Eobert  T.  B.  Easton,  ordained  May  1,  1870, 
you  will  not  expect  me  to  speak.  Of  the  first  three,  whom 
I  have  long  been  permitted  to  regard  as  personal  friends,  it 
were  easier  for  me  to  speak  than  to  refrain.  I  may  only 
say  of  the  four,  "  their  works  praise  them,"  and  their  Pastor 
is  to  be  congratulated  in  having  such  counsellors  and  assist- 
ants in  his  work. 

Indeed,  it  may  be  said,  the  Deacons  of  this  Church  have 
(so  far  as  I  am  informed)  rarely,  if  ever,  been  wanting  in 
fidelity  to  the  Pastor  or  to  the  Church,  or  given  occasion  to 
the  reproach  that  has  of  late  years,  justly  or  unjustly,  in  some 
parts  of  the  country,  fallen  upon  this  ancient  and  most  im- 
portant office,  instituted  by  the  Apostles  of  our  Lord.  One 
rea?on  of  their  excellence  may  have  been  that  the  brethren 
here  have  so  generally  regarded  the  office  as  high  and  holy, 
which  they  shrunk  from  undertaking. 

Before  1816  there  was  not  in  Wilton  what  was  distinctly 
known  as  a  Sabbath-school.  About  that  time  the  influence 
of  revivals,  which  organized  the  Missionary  Society  of  Con- 
necticut in  1798,  the  American  Board  in  1810,  the  American 
Bible  Society,  and  what  is  now  the  Connecticut  Home  Mis- 
sionary Society  in  1816,  began  to  organize  schools  for  instruc- 
tion, on  the  Lord's  day,  of  the  children  of  the  poor  and  ir- 
religious parents,  who  commonly  neglected  public  worship. 
In  most  parishes  this  work  was  unfortunately  not  undertaken 
by  the  Church  as  such,  but  by  individuals,  usually  Church- 


WILTON   CONGREGATIONAL   CHURCH.  75 

members  acting  with  the  consent  and  'by  the  advice  of  the 
Pastor,  and  soon  or  late  forming  some  association  or  organi- 
zation to  do  this  work,  without  any  direct  regard  to  the 
Church,  to  which  the  whole  business  properly  belonged. 

Sixty  years  ago  such  a  beginning  was  made  here.  We 
may  be  sure  that  Mr.  Haight  led,  and  that  some  of  the  excel- 
lent women  *  were  engaged  in  it  Garments  and  shoes  were 
prepared.  When  all  was  ready  on  Sunday  morning  a  number  of 
children  from  Huckleberry  Hills  and  elsewhere  flocked  to  the 
house  of  Mr.  Nathan  Davenport  to  put  them  on,  and  go  in 
order  to  Sunday-school.  At  the  close  of  public  worship, 
they  .returned  to  the  house,  exchanged  their  new  garments 
for  their  old  ones,  and  went  home,  to  think  of  what  they  had 
seen  and  heard,  and  repeat  the  process  next  Sabbath.  This, 
of  course,  could  last  only  a  little  while.  But  the  school 
thus  begun  has  grown  strong  and  useful  to  this  day.  Com- 
paratively few  have  entered  the  Church  in  thirty  years,  who 
had  not  been  members  of  the  Sunday-school  A  list  of  its 
officers,  teachers  and  pupils  from  the  beginning,  would  con- 
tain the  names  of  many  whom  we  love  to  hold  in  lasting 
honor.  And  it  will  not,  I  trust,  seem  invidious ;  if,  singling 
out  from  the  list  one  who,  more  than  forty  years  as  teacher  or 
superintendent,  was  almost  always  at  his  post,  till  death  suddenly 
carried  him  away  in  1869,  I  mention  the  name  of  Wakeman 
Hubbell.-\  Loyalty  to  truth,  as  he  saw  the  truth,  and  to  duty 
were  conspicuous  in  his  character.  On  a  moderate  amount  of 
evidence  it  were  easy  to  believe,  that  he  consciously  or  uncon- 
sciously allowed  himself  to  be  influenced  by  those  memorable 
words,  which  should  have  been  cut  into  the  grave-stone  of 
that  Mr.  John  St.  John,  the  father  of  Bela  St.  John,  who 
perhaps  eighty  years  ago,  when  rallied  by  one  of  the  ma- 


*  Miss  Susan  Comstock,  daughter  of  Strong  Comstock,  and  Miss  Dolly  Gregory, 
daughter  of  Moses  Gregory,  were,  it  is  believed,  active  in  this  enterprise.  Some  years 
later  Miss  Comstock  went,  under  the  care  of  the  American  Board  to  the  "Great  Usage 
Mission."  which  was  in  Missouri  and  Arkansas.  In  October,  1822.  she  married  Mr. 
(afterwards  Rev  )  William  C.  Requa.  who  was  then  Assistant  Missionary.  »hewasfor 
some  time  in  the  service,  and  died,  if  I  remember,  at  Little  Rock,  Arkansas.  Miss 
Gregory  desired  to  go  with  Miss  Comstock,  and  attended  the  Company  as  far  as  New 
Jersey.  She  was  in  Wilton,  in  the  day-school  and  Sunday-school,  an  efficient  teacher 
till  failing  health  and  other  causes  prevented  longer  service. 

t  He  died  suddenly  in  the  field.  Nov.  2, 1869,  in  the  71st  year  of  his  age. 


76  ANNIVERSARY   OF   THE 

jority  for  having  voted,  by  rising,  alone  against  the  others,  in 
a  meeting  of  the  Society,  promptly  replied  :  "  If  I  am  wrong, 
I  ought  to  be  alone  ;  but  if  I  am  right,  I  am  not  ashamed  to 
be  alone." 

It  would  be  appropriate  to  this  occasion,  if  time  allowed,  to 
mention  the  names  of  those  who,  by  birth  or  adoption,  belong 
to  Wilton,  who  graduated  at  some  college  or  literary  institu- 
tion or  professional  school,  or  who  studied  law,  medicine  or 
theology,  or  became  authors,  or  were  married  to  one  of 
that,  class.  I  have  prepared  a  table  containing  their  names. 
Some  of  them  were  never  members  of  this  congregation,  but 
they  belonged  to  families  once  included  in  this  parish,  or 
were  themselves  for  a  longer  or  shorter  period  members  of 
the  Wilton  Academy.  Additions  to  that  table  will  be  wel- 
come. 

Bat  among  the  many  who  were  born  and  nurtured  under 
the  shadow  of  this  Church,  though  not  himself  a  member, 
whose  subsequent  life  shed  distinguished  honor  upon  this 
town,  none  is  more  conspicuous  than  MOSES  STUART  ;  whom 
it  would  ill  befit  us  to  pass  without  notice  to-day.  He  was 
born  in  1780,  in  the  house  now  owned  and  occupied  by  Abi- 
jah  M.  Jones,  the  son  of  Isaac  and  Olive  Stuart.  He  read 
books  with  eagerness  when  four  years  old,  but  remained  a 
farmer's  boy  with  no  thought  of  college,  till,  at  fourteen,  a 
thirst  for  knowledge  was  manifest  which  neither  toil  or  years 
could  quench.  He  went  to  Norwalk,*  made  rapid  progress 
in  the  rudiments  of  Latin  and  French,  and  was  fitted  for  the 
Sophomore  class  by  Roger  Minot  Sherman,  who  had  the  pre- 
ceding year  been  a  tutor  at  Yale.  He  graduated  with  the 
highest  honor  in  the  class  of  1799,  afterwards  he  taught  in 
what  was  North  Fairfield,  and  in  Danbury ;  studied  law,  was 
admitted  to  the  bar  at  Danbury  in  1802  ;  became  tutor  at 
Yale  from  1802  to  1804.  There  and  afterwards  he  showed 
almost  unsurpassed  skill  in  awakening  the  enthusiasm  of 
young  men  in  their  studies.  But  here  the  Spirit  of  the  Lord 
met  him  and  he  heard  the  call  which  Paul  heard — to  preach 


*  Prof.  Park's  sermon  at  his  funeral 


WILTON   CONGREGATIONAL   CHURCH.  77 

the  Gospel.  He  united  with  the  College  Church  and  studied 
theology  with  Dr.  Dwight.  His  first  and  only  settlement  was 
as  Pastor  of  the  First  Church  in  New  Haven.  It  was  an  era 
(those  almost  four  years  of  his  pastorate  are  yet  remembered 
there),  during  which  above  one  hundred  and  seventy 
(172)  were  added  to  the  Church  by  profession.  His  succes- 
sor, Kev.  Dr.  N.  W.  Taylor,  forty  years  later,  spoke  in  the 
highest  terms  of  his  power  as  a  preacher,  reckoning  him 
second  to  none  in  this  country.  In  1810  he  was  wanted,  as 
Professor  of  Hebrew  and  Greek,  in  the  new  Theological 
Seminary  at  Andover,  Mass.  "We  cannot  spare  him,"  said 
one  of  the  Yale  Faculty  to  the  Kev.  Dr.  Samuel  Spring,  of 
Newburyport,  who  had  come  to  New  Haven  to  get  Mr. 
Stuart's  assent  to  the  plan.  "  We  want  no  man  who  can  be 
spared  "  was  Dr.  Spring's  reply. 

He  went  to  Andover,  as  he  himself  said,  with  small  knowl- 
edge of  Hebrew,  and  of  Greek  Grammar  less  than  many  a 
student  who  this  year  enters  college.  In  two  years  he  had 
prepared  a  Hebrew  Grammar,  and,  as  there  was  no  printer 
who  understood  the  business,  he  was  obliged  to  set  a  part  of 
the  types  with  his  own  hands. 

The  work  that  Mr.  Stuart  did  for  the  Ministry  and  the 
Church  in  America,  by  promoting  the  study  of  the  Bible  in 
the  original  languages,  and  in  awakening  the  enthusiasm  of 
young  men  who  were  to  be  ministers,  in  the  study  of  biblical 
philology,  is  one  of  the  extraordinary  things  of  this  wonder- 
ful century.  He  studied  German  when  his  brethren  in  the 
ministry  trembled  lest  he  should  be  poisoned  with  German 
rationalism.  They  little  dreamed  that  he  was  preparing  there- 
by to  set  up  an  immovable  barrier  against  Unitarianism,  and 
other  religious  errors.  The  multiplicity  and  value  of  his 
labors  during  the  almost  forty-two  years  of  his  residence 
at  Andover,  till  his  death,  after  a  brief  illness,  Jan.  4th,  1852, 
may  be  inferred  from  the  discourse  delivered  at  his  funeral 
by  Professor  Edwards  A.  Park.  A  copy  of  it  might  well  be 
in  this  Sunday-school  Library,  and  in  every  family,  that  can 
appreciate  the  honor  such  a  man  confers  upon  his  native 
town.  Some  may  remember  his  occasionally  preaching  here 


78  ANNIVERSARY  OF   THE 

many  years  ago.  But  the  spirit  of  the  man  is  seen  in  the 
words  with  which  he  closed  "  Two  Sermons  on  the  Atone- 
ment : "  "  When  I  behold  the  glory  of  the  Saviour  as  re- 
vealed in  the  gospel,  I  am  constrained  to  cry  out  with  the  be- 
lieving Apostle,  '  My  Lord  and  My  God  ! '  And  when  my 
departing  spirit  shall  quit  these  mortal  scenes  and  wing  its 
way  to  the  world  unknown,  with  my  latest  breath  I  desire  to 
pray  as  the  expiring  martyr  did,  '  Lord  Jesus,  receive  my 
spirit.'  "  [See  also  Prof.  Phelps  in  the  Advance,  May,  76.] 

There  was,  perhaps,  fifty  years  ago,  a  society  of  ladies  in 
which  were  active  Mrs.  Haight  and  Mrs.  Matthew  Marvin,  to 
aid  the  American  Education  Society,  of  which  I  have  not 
seen  the  record.  By  the  influence  of  Mrs.  Merwin,  the 
Ladies  Sewing  Society,  called  the  "  Ladies  Home  Missionary 
Association,"  held  its  first  meeting  at  the  house  of  Mr.  Wake- 
man  Hubbell,  Sept.  14th,  1836.  Twenty  ladies  were  present* 
Mrs.  Merwin  was  the  first  President,  and  Miss  Clara  M. 
Gregory,  Secretary  and  Treasurer,  which  office  she  holds 
now ;  f  Mrs.  Willard  was  President  eighteen  years,  till  her 
death  ;  Mrs.  Wakeman  Hubbell  was  President  till  called  to 
her  reward  ;  Mrs.  Merwin  is  now  President. 

As  a  bond  of  sympathy  among  the  sisters  and  families  of 
the  Church ;  as  an  educator  of  the  daughters  who  here  or 
elsewhere  have  been  called  to  labor  for  the  Kingdom  of 
Heaven ;  as  a  means  of  raising  funds  for  Home  Missions  and 
for  other  benevolent  objects,  and  as  an  auxiliary  in  refitting  this 
House  of  Worship  £  in  1844 ;  in  building  the  Chapel,  and  in 
providing  furniture  for  the  two  houses,  the  Ladies  Society  has 
been  invaluable.  It  is  worthy  of  mention  that  since  1856  the 
Society  has  raised  above  two  thousand  dollars.  A  list  of  its 
officers  and  the  roll  of  its  members  would  recall  faces, 
and  persons,  by  whose  self-sacrificing  labors  and  wise  plans 
we  are  benefited  to-day ;  who  (many  here  may  say)  bound  our 
young  hearts  to  them  by  cords  stronger  than  death ;  who 
should  be  praised,  if  the  world  has  been  the  better  for  our 


*  See  note. 

t  Mrs.  Helen  Comstock  was  for  several  years  in  that  office. 

$  See  Appendix. 


WILTON   CONGREGATIONAL   CHURCH.  79 

living;  whose  names  are  now  graven  on  the  stones 
in  the  burying-ground ;  but  whose  best  monuments  are  in  the 
character  and  lives  of  the  men  and  women  of  this  assembly. 
Though  "  lost  to  sight,"  their  presence  is  with  us — a  shield 
from  temptation,  an  inspiration  for  duty. 

But  the  time  forbids  me  longer  to  trespass  upon  your  at- 
tention ;  lest,  like  the  "  ancient  mariner  "  of  Coleridge,  I  cheat 
the  hearers  of  the  promised  feast,  which  they  may  well  be  in 
haste  to  reach. 

The  Church,  which  our  fathers  planted  here  with  fasting 
and  prayer,  one  hundred  and  fifty  years  ago,  has,  by  the  good 
Providence  of  Him  whose  help  they  sought,  not  betrayed 
their  trust,  nor  prematurely  fallen  into  the  decrepitude  of  an 
old  age  of  poverty.  It  has  borne  precious  fruit ;  it  is  still 
vigorous  with  youth.  Its  blossoms,  that  are  the  fullest  of 
promise,  may  sometimes  wither,  and  its  ripe  fruit  be  gathered 
by  the  heavenly  gardener;  but  it  is  a  tree  drawing  nourish- 
ment from  the  river  of  life.  It  has  been  highly  favored  with 
Pastors  who  were  sound  in  the  Faith — men  of  education, 
whom  the  Master  had  endowed  for  their  work ;  and  who, 
with  a  single  unhappy  exception,  continued  faithful  unto 
death.  It  has  steadfastly  maintained  the  doctrines  of  the  Gos- 
pel In  matters  of  religion,  of  education,  in  its  testimony  for 
temperance  and  for  morality,  its  influence  has  blessed  the 
town,  in  which  for  three-quarters  of  a  century  it  was  the  only 
Church. 

It  has,  since  1826,  furnished  at  least  eight  men  (six  graduates 
of  Yale,  one  of  Williams,  and  one  of  Trinity)  who  are  yet  in  the 
Ministry.  Whatever  sins  may  have  been  justly  laid  at  the 
door  of  individual  members,  the  records  show,  and  tradi- 
tion does  not  question  that  the  Church,  as  a  whole,  has  in  the 
main  been  preserved  from  scandalous  immoralities.  It  has 
not  ceased  to  testify  for  Jesus,  and  to  invite  the  weary 
and  heavy-laden  to  share  in  the  blessings  of  the  Gospel. 
It  has  cheered  the  toils  and  wiped  the  tears  of  the  living;  it 
has  strengthened  the  faith  of  the  dying.  The  fathers  and 
mothers  have  fallen  asleep,  and  the  children  have  risen  in 
their  place  till  five  generations  have  come  and  gone  from  the 


80  ANNIVERSARY   OF  THE 

house  of  the  Lord.  And  yet  this  Church  witnesses,  that  the 
promise  is  to  us  and  our  children  ;  and  that,  if  they  forsake 
not  the  God  of  their  fathers,  He  will  increase  them  more  and 
more.  Upon  this  fair  heritage  of  hill  and  vale,  refreshed  by 
streams  of  water,  and  glorified  by  Christian  homes,  His  face 
will  continue  to  shine.  The  sons  and  daughters,  who  remain 
to  worship  on  this  hill  of  Zion,  and  to  be  buried  amid  their 
fathers'  graves,  and  those  whose  lot  is  cast  in  other  parts  of 
the  vineyard,  will  become  precious  stones  and  polished  pil- 
lars in  the  spiritual  temple,  which  forever  ascendeth  to  the 
praise  of  God  our  Saviour,  JESUS  CHRIST. 


The  "Pilgrim  Fathers"  was  then  sung  by  Mr.  ROBERT  J. 
JOHNSTON. 

The  CHAIRMAN — Ladies  and  Gentlemen:  Wilton,  as  you 
have  heard,  has  been  quite  fruitful  in  Ministers.  The  Com- 
mittee have  selected  one  of  them,  who  is  of  good  Puritan 
descent,  and  bearing  a  good  Puritan  name,  as  the  Poet  of  this 
occasion ;  and  I  now  present  him  to  you — the  Rev.  JOHN  G. 
DAVENPORT,  of  Bridgeport. 

POEM. 

WHO'D  think,  to  see  her  beaming 

In  her  fresh  and  bright  array, 
That  the  Blessed  Mother  of  us  all 

Is  a  hundred  and  fifty  to-day? 

I've  studied  her  somewhat  closely, 

With  loving  and  reverent  care  ; 
But  I've  failed  to  discover  a  wrinkle 

Deforming  her  features  so  fair ! 

We're  weaving  a  chaplet  of  honor, 

And  crowning  her  with  it  now — 
But  it  covers  no  thread  of  silver 

On  her  peaceful,  radiant  brow ! 


WILTON    CONGREGATIONAL    CHURCH.  81 

The  stranger  who'd  not  heard  recounted 
The  years  and  the  changes  she's  seen, 

Instead  of  a  hundred  and  fifty 

Would  think  her  but  ''sweet  sixteen  "! 

How  graciously  she  receives  us ! 

How  warm  is  her  welcome  to-day  ! 
We're  ready  to  blush  as  we  greet  her, 

To  think  that — we  went  away ! 

But  there's  merit  in  separation — 

It's  well  for  some  children  to  roam  ; 
No  doubt  she  loves  some  of  us  better 

Than  if  we'd  continued  at  home  ! 

While  so  fresh  and  so  youthful  appearing, 

Her  grasp  neither  feeble  nor  cold, 
We're  proud  of  our  dignified  mother 

In  part  from  the  fact  that  she's  old ! 

Why,  think  of  it !  great  is  the  honor, 

This  famous  Centennial  time, 
Of  owning  a  table  rheumatic 

Or  a  chair  truly  worth  not  a  dime ; 

If  only  the  rieketty  pieces 

Have  come  from  the  years  far  away ; 
The  sunlight  of  decades  departed 

With  gold  plates  them  over  to-day  ! 

A  tea-cup  some  General's  moustache 

Brushed  lightly  a  century  ago, 
Or  a  dress  Mrs.  Washington  looked  at, 

But  didn't  quite  fancy,  you  know ; 

Or  a  snuff-box  that,  daintily  handled, 

Beguiled  the  fair  ladies  of  yore — 
These  things  are  esteemed  above  rubies 

In  setting;  of  costliest  ore  ! 


82  ANNIVERSARY   OF  THE 

This  year  an  old  hat's  in  the  fashion, 
Old  houses  are  stylish  and  grand, 

And  I  fear  that  old  hearts,  and  not  new  ones, 
Are  the  prevalent  mode  of  the  land ! 

Eeversed  is  the  sentiment  uttered 
To  Paul's  dear  Corinthian  fold, 

New  things  have  now  passed  away  wholly, 
Lo,  all  things  have  now  become  old! 

Since  such  is  the  public  condition, 
And  age  is  more  precious  than  gold, 

We're  proud  that  our  sacred  Church  mother 
Is  a  hundred  and  fifty  years  old ! 

They  talk  of  the  age  of  the  Nation, 
And  nudge  all  the  world  to  recall 

That  it  rounds  out  a  century's  existence 
Some  time  between  now  and  next  Fall ! 

But  over  thefr  pomp  and  their  bluster 
We  Wiltoners  slyly  must  laugh, 

For,  while  they  are  keeping  Centennial, 
We're  keeping  Centennial  and  a  half! 

As  of  "  seventy -six :>  they  are  boasting, 
And  telling  its  fame  evermore, 

We'd  like  to  inquire  the  condition 
Of  things  half  a  century  before ! 

Where  then  was  the  parchment  conferring 
Independence  on  good  "Uncle  Sam  "? 

Why,  the  sheep  that  afterward  wore  it 
As  yet  wasn't  even  a  lamb ! 

Where  then  was  the  pen  bravely  wielded 
For  Freedom,  oppressed  and  forlorn  ? 

The  goose  from  whose  pinions  it  fluttered 
Was  still  with  the  millions  unborn  ! 


WILTON   CONGREGATIONAL   CHURCH.  83 

And  the  hands  that  subscribed  to  the  Charter, 

Equal  liberty  claiming  for  all, 
As  yet  had  not  managed  a  top-string 

Nor  directed  the  flight  of  a  ball ! 

And  where  was  the  bell,  at  whose  fracture 

The  nations  now  reverently  stare? 
Not  yet  were  its  particles  blended 

The  pounding  and  pealing  to  share ! 

The  tree  that,  though  hackexl  with  the  hatchet, 

Will  live  while  the  ages  shall  die, 
Was  a  cherry-stone  then,  just  rejected 

From  good  Mother  Washington's  pie! 

Ben  Franklin,  whose  wisdom  to  honor 

The  world  now  indulges  the  right, 
Was  still  wearing  the  garments  that  furnished 

The  tail  of  his  thunderstruck  kite  ! 

The  illustrious  army  of  heroes 

That  battled  so  bravely  and  well, 
As  infantry  yet  were  unmarshalled 

On  the  day  of  whose  honors  we  tell ! 

Not  one  of  the  stars  of  our  banner 

Had  yet  risen  over  the  land, 
Not  a  stripe  of  the  snow  or  the  crimson 

Our  Nation's  horizon  had  spanned! 

Enwrapped  in  the  mists  of  the  future, 

Its  grandeur  and  beauty  concealed, 
Our  Royal  Republic  was  waiting 

Till  Time  should  a  coronet  yield  ! 

This  Church,  at  its  birth,  was  a  subject 

Of  England's  imperial  sway ; 
To  the  First  of  the  Georges  it  hastened, 

Its  loyal  obedience  to  pay ! 


84  ANNIVERSARY   OF   THE 

Just  think  of  it !  four  of  its  Pastors 
Were  wont  to  the  altar  to  bring 

The  earnest  petition,  "  God  bless  him, 
Our  Sovereign  Master  the  King ! " 

And  the  fourth  may  have  finally  added, 

"  Please  bless  him — he  needs  it,  we  know- 
But  help  us  to  strike  the  old  tyrant 
A  blinding  and  withering  blow  ! " 

Thus  the  brovf  of  our  mother  was  touched 
With  the  kiss  of  the  long  ago, 

And  on  her  to-day  our  reverent  love 
We  eagerly  all  bestow. 

O,  child  of  the  far-off  years ! 

O,  mother  benign  and  true ! 
With  tender  and  grateful  hearts 

Acknowledging  all  thy  due ; 

Acknowledging  all  we  owe 
To  thy  long  and  faithful  years, 

To  the  truth  thou  hast  patiently  maintained, 
Though  it  cost  thee  pain  and  tears, 

Not  in  our  name  alone, 

But  of  all  whom  thou  hast  blessed, 
Thy  family  scattered  far  to-day, 

We  hail  thee  "worthiest,"  "best!" 

Our  gratulations  we  bring  thee 

With  regard  that  can  never  be  told — 

Grod  bless  thee  to-day,  good  mother, 
A  hundred  and  fifty  years  old ! 

The  Historian  here  has  told  us 
(Though  we  scarce  can  think  it,  still) 

That  our  good  Church  hasn't  always  dwelt 
On  this  consecrated  hill ! 


WILTON   CONGREGATIONAL   CHURCH.  85 

For  many  a  year  her  mansion 

Was  a  mile  or  two  farther  down, 
But  at  length  she  thought  it  needful 

To  see  to  this  part  of  the  town  ! 

Thus  often  I've  noticed  a  mother 

Removing  her  easy  chair 
From  a  group  of  orderly  children 

Toward  certain  demanding  her  care  ! 

Just  how  it  may  be  at  the  present 

I  haven't  the  power  to  explain, 
But  perhaps  if  she  followed  "  the  leadings  " 

She'd  quickly  return  again  ! 

My  childhood  was  very  familiar 

With  the  scene  of  her  primal  abode, 
'Though  scarce  a  tradition  suggested 

The  place  where  her  altars  had  glowed. 

No  doubt  as  a  bare-footed  urchin, 

In  perfect  abandon  of  play, 
1  often  have  trampled  "regardless" 

The  spot  where  her  "  corner-stone  "  lay. 

No  doubt  I  have  often  been  rnerry 

(Such  thoughts  strange  emotions  infuse) 

Just  where  the  good  Parson,  my  grandsire, 
As  a  "  candidate  "  shook  in  his  shoes! 

And  there  in  the  shady  pasture, 

Where  his  words,  like  dew  distilled, 
Not  thinking  of  spiritual  sustenance, 

My  basket  with  berries  I  filled ! 

I  wonder  that,  in  the  stillness 

Of  the  Summer  afternoon, 
I  caught  no  echo  of  the  past — 

No  snatch  of  pious  tune  ! 


86  ANNIVERSARY   OF   THE 

That  'mid  the  ferns,  and  through  the  hedge, 

And  o'er  the  ledges  bare, 
There  breathed  no  word  of  holy  truth — 

No  pleading  voice  of  prayer  ! 

'Twould  seem  that  sun-  and  star-light 

Must  there  forever  rise, 
Like  shimmering  golden  ladder  rounds 

'Twixt  earth  and  Paradise  ! 

For  sacred  evermore  must  be 
The  spot  where  Saints  prepare, 

With  sigh  and  psalm  and  sacrament 
Heaven's  ministries  to  share  ! 

Where  stood  the  second  house  of  prayer — 
Just  off  the  broad  highway— 

My  childish  feet  have  often  roved 
At  hour  of  setting  day  ! 

For  where  the  Pastor  fed  his  flock. 
And  warned  from  snares  and  sloughs, 

There,  through  the  purple  twilight  shade, 
I  homeward  drove  the  cows  ! 

And  oft  I  seemed  to  hear  again 
The  words  that  thrilled  of  yore — 

The  testimony  holy  men 

To  Christ's  redemption  bore  ! 

And  oft  beside  the  Pastor's  grave 

I  knelt  to  read  his  fame, 
And  wished  his  virtues  might  descend 

On  all  who  bear  his  name  ! 

And  as  I  saw  him  in  the  midst, 

His  Church  asleep  around, 
I  wondered  if  'twere  ever  thus 

Within  their  temple  found  ! 


WILTON   CONGREGATIONAL   CHURCH.'  87 

The  spot  is  hallowed  evermore, 

Where  flock  and  shepherd  lie, 
And  silent  wait  till  fadeless  dawn 

Illume  the  Eastern  sky. 

0  you  who  hold  the  ancient  trust, 
Who  still  the  homestead  keep, 

1  pray  you,  guard  with  pious  care 
Th''  enclosure  where  they  sleep  ! 

Nor  let  the  flaunting  sumach  there 

Display  its  crimson  shield, 
Nor  to  the  tramp  of  feeding  brute 

The  precious  acre  yield ! 

There  slumber  staid  and  saintly  sires, 

There  dames  of  gentler  grace ; 
They  ask  (what  less  can  we  bestow?) 

An  honored  resting-place. 

Wherever  else  our  mother  dwelt, 

This,  this  to  us  is  home, 
And  dearer  far  than  minster  grand 

Of  stateliest  tower  and  dome ! 

Converges  here  the  Sabbath  light 

Of  years  long  flown  away, 
Illuming  the  familiar  scene 

With  sweetest,  holiest  ray  ! 

Bright  verdure  now,  and  fragrant  flowers, 

Our  holy  altars  twine  ; 
But  mem'ry  decks,  with  fadeless  bloom, 

The  consecrated  shrine ! 

These  sacred  aisles,  with  reverent  step, 

Our  infant  feet  have  trod  ; 
We  deemed  them,  as  they  were,  the  paths 

That  lead  to  heaven  and  God. 


88  ANNIVERSARY   OF   THE 

These  pews — I  weary  now  to  think 
How  much  of  them  I  bore, 

With  head  upon  the  rail,  and  feet 
Some  inches  from  the  floor ! 

Good  Parson  Smith  a  marvel  seemed, 
He  had  so  much  to  say  ! 

Relief  I  sought  in  fennel-seed 
And  blessed  caraway ! 

But  sanctuary  oak  grew  soft 

As,  following  good  advice, 
I  to  the  Pastor's  sermon  turned 

For  my  supply  of  spice. 
b 

I  this  believe,  I  say  it  for 

The  good  of  restless  youth, 
The  softest  cushion  for  a  pew, 

Is  a  wish  to  hear  the  truth ! 

At  noon,  along  these  galleries 
In  Sunday-school  we  met, 

The  girls  and  boys  on  either  side 
In  opposition  set ! 

They  thought  it  wise,  perhaps  it  was, 
The  pupils  so  to  place — 

That  with  a  gulf  between,  they  looked 
.Each  other  in  the  face  ! 

But  possibly  occasion  rose, 
For  some  to  humbly  pray 

Amid  their  lessons  "  Turn  mine  eyes 
From  seeing  vanity  !  " 

If  I  am  right,  'twas  brother  Mix, 

To  his  cognomen  true, 
Who  brought  us  to  the  floor  below 

And  rearranged  us  too  ! 


WILTON   CONGREGATIONAL   CHURCH.  89 

But  I  shall  never  once  forget 

The  day  I  joined  the  school, 
And  gave  my  name  to  be  enrolled 

According  to  the  rule  ! 

u  What's  man's  chief  end  ?  "  the  teacher  asked  ; 

'Twas  more  than  I  could  meet ; 
I  hung  my  head  and  steadfast  gazed 

Upon  my  swinging  feet ! 

Perhaps  he  thought  in  pantomime 

I  thus  essayed  reply ; 
'  Twas  not  my  toes — and  to  the  next 

He  turned  with  heavy  sigh  ! 

Though  I  was  stupid,  he  was  good, 

And  his  successors  all, 
The  truths  they  taught  shall  light  my  path 

When  death-shades  'round  me  fall ! 

When  first  I  sought  the  House  of  God 

The  choir  seemed  rather  gay, 
The  fiddle  and  the  viol  were  there 

With  Dr.  Mead  to  play  ! 

Perhaps  I  am  not  orthodox, 

But  I  could  never  see 
Why  we  to  Satan's  use  should  yield 

Their  stirring  melody  ! 

The  Psalmist  used  an  "  instrument" 
"  With  strings"  that  numbered  "  ten  "  ! 

What  reason  is  there,  one  with  four 
Should  be  forbidden  then  ? 

I  well  remember  when  the  first 

Melodeon  arrived, 
How  strange  it  seemed  that  until  then 

Without  it  we'd  survived  ! 


90  ANNIVERSARY   OF  THE 

But  soon  one  more  pretentious  came, 

Our  Arthur  *  was  its  king, 
His  magic  fingers  swept  the  keys 

And  made  the  rafters  ring ! 

But  what  now  fills  its  honored  place 

And  moves  the  ear  to  bliss? 
I  see  no  Tribune  statement  here 

That  "  not  an  Organ — this." 

I  thought  that  Darwin's  great  idea 

Was  scarcely  proven  true, 
But  surely  here's  a  striking  case 

That  bids  us  think  anew  ! 

Consider  the  "  development" 

Within  so  brief  a  while, 
Of  this  Grand  Johnston  Organ  f 

From  Dr.  Mead's  bass-viol ! 

0  Organ  !  wilderness  of  tubes, 
With  all  thy  glorious  sweep 

Thy  myriad  loftier  harmonies 
Thy  pealing  thunders  deep  ! 

Swell  thou  His  praise  who  lives  and  reigns 

Though  generations  die ! 
Our  lagging  hallelujahs  lift 

E'en  to  His  courts  on  high! 

Exulting  greet  the  Sabbath  morn 

Oft  as  it  dawns  again  ! 
Console  the  mourner  with  thy  sobs, 

Speed  the  glad  bridal  train  ! 

Eeflect  the  sorrow  and  the  joy 
Our  loved  ones  here  shall  feel, 


*  Dr.  Arthur  Barrows  of  New  York. 

t  Mr.  Johnston,  the  Chorister,  took  the  initiative  in  procuring  an  Organ  in  which  he 
was  heartly  supported.    It  was  built  by  Geo.  W.  Earle,  Riverhead,  L.  I. 


WILTON   CONGREGATIONAL   CHURCH.  91 

Inspire  to  high  and  sacred  art, 
To  patriotic  zeal  ! 

Thus  breathe  a  blessing  from  thy  tubes 

On  all  who  gather  here, 
Till  heaven's  eternal  harmonies 

Break  on  their  ravished  ear  ! 

What  sacred  and  tender  memories  throng 

This  consecrated  space !  * 
Cherubic  and  glorious  wings  must  e'er 

O'ershadow  the  holy  place  ! 

Here  has  the  smiling  and  dimpled  babe 

To  Him  been  lovingly  given, 
Who  said  "  Permit  the  children  to  come 

For  of  such  is  the  highest  heaven." 

Here  scores  and  hundreds  have  boldly  stood, 
To  acknowledge  their  Master's  name, 

And  solemnly  consecrate  themselves 
To  the  spread  of  His  peerless  fame  ! 

And  here  has  the  chosen  Pastor  bowed 

His  neck  to  the  yoke  of  care  ! 
The  burden  great  of  his  people's  weal 

Thenceforward  to  meekly  bear  ! 

And  here  has  the  blushing  maiden  said 

To  him  who  would  have  it  so, 
"  To  leave  thee  again  entreat  me  not — 

For  whither  thou  goest,  I'll  go  ! " 

And  here  with  a  gaze  unspeakably  sad 

And  blinded  with  bitter  tears 
We  have  looked  our  last  at  the  peaceful  face 

That  had  brightened  our  life  for  years. 


Between  the  pulpit  and  the  pews. 


92  ANNIVERSARY   OF  THE 

0,  many  a  sacred  and  holy  spot 

This  beautiful  earth  can  boast, 
But  to  scores  here  met — this  Altar  of  God 

Is  the  place  that  is  hallowed  most ! 

Our  brother  has  summoned  to  view 
The  men  who  have  ministered  here, 

And  their  names  as  he  called  them,  one  by  one,, 
Fell  musically  on  the  ear  ! 

And  their  forms  as  they  slowly  passed 

By  his  magic  word  invoked  ! 
Seemed  loftier  than  the  sons  of  men 

And  in  saintlier  purity  cloaked. 

A  lingering  lustre  c'ings 

To  the  spot  where  they  plead  for  truth, 
And  sought  for  the  Master — manhood's  strength 

And  the  fiery  heart  of  youth  ! 

A  mantle  of  glory  descends 
On  the  Pastor  that  ministers  here, 

Whose  folds  so  radiant  e'er  have  wrapped 
The  worthy  and  the  dear  ! 

No  surplice  of  shimmering  white 

Nor  robe  that  a  prelate  wore, 
Compares  with  this  tribute  of  love  and  power 

From  those  who  have  gone  before ! 

Forgive  me,  but  I  recall 

A  day  when  this  mantle  of  might, 

Less  warmly  /here  desired,  than  one 
That  should  bury  me  out  of  sight ! 

For  on  this  very  desk 

As  an  altar  of  sacrifice, 
My  first-born  sermon  I  offered  up 

With  countless  fears  and  sighs  ! 


WILTON   CONGREGATIONAL   CHURCH.  93 

Paul  spoke  of  the  "  feeble  knees  " — ; 

And  I  well  knew  what  he  meant, 
For  mine  beneath  their  weight  of  woe 

Like  reeds  in  a  tempest  bent ! 

And  David  tells  of  the  tongue 

That  cleaves  to  the  roof  of  the  mouth, 

And  mine  seemed'  firmly  packed 
In  the  dust  of  an  August  drouth  ! 

"  You'll  find  my  text,"  said  I, 

And  thereupon  all  grew  dim, 
And  I  scarce  could  tell  if  'twas  Holy  Writ 

That  I  needed  to  give,  or  a  hymn ! 

And  the  congregation  danced 

And  whirled  in  a.  curious  way, 
Decidedly  festive  it  seemed  to  me 

For  the  holy  Sabbath  day  ! 

And  I  thought — an  earthquake  now, 

If  such  a  thing  could  be — 
Would  bring  a  fitting  reward  to  them 

And  a  great  relief  to  me ! 

My  heart — it  quaked  instead  ! 

And  I  labored  my  sermon  through, 
And  it  seemed  that  ere  I  could  say  "  Amen" 

The  sunset  would  be  due  ! 

But  the  agony  closed  at  last, 

And  I  found  as  I  went  away, 
That  while  I  claimed  to  have  suffered, 

The  people  thought  it  was  they  ! 

And  so  this  sacred  desk 

O'er  which  bright  memories  break 
I  still  must  regard,  somewhat, 

As  the  martyr  regards  the  stake  ! 


94  ANNIVERSARY   OF   THE 

Thus  coming  hither  to-day 

We  hasten  the  mansion  round, 

And  every  part  of  the  dear  old  home 
O'erflowing  with  interest  is  found  ! 

I  scarcely  doubt  that  some — 

E'en  paused  in  the  vestibule, 
And  thought  "  Just  here  she  took  my  arm 

At  the  close  of  the  singing-school !  " 

And  others  reflected  thus — 

"  Can  it  be  that  it  was  so  ? 
That  on  this  spot  she  turned  away 

With  a  sharply  answered  '  No '  ?  " 

How  much  of  the  joy  and  the  sorrow 
The  doubt  and  the  hope  and  the  fear, 

That  our  lives  have  known  in  the  time  gone  by 
Must  centre  forever  here ! 

To-day  we  look,  how  vainly, 

For  faces  once  beaming  here ; 
We  close  our  eyes  and  they  come  again, 

With  their  olden  smile,  draw  near. 

Fathers  and  mothers,  sweet  and  grave — 
Who  loved  the  House  of  God — 

Dear  youths  that  early  sought  their  rest 
Beneath  the  daisied  sod  ! 

The  men  who  bore  along  these  aisles 

The  consecrated  bread ! 
The  trusting  shepherd  who,  his  flock, 

To  peaceful  pastures  led  ! 

The  little  child  with  pattering  feet — 

The  strong  man  in  his  pride, 
The  school-boy  with  his  modest  air, 

The  blissful,  blooming  bride  ! 


WILTON   CONGREGATIONAL   CHURCH.  95 

'They  come  again  !  we  see  them  take 

The  place  they  filled  of  old, 
A  large  and  precious  portion 

Of  this  dear  flock  and  fold  ! 

We  look  again  !     It  was  a  dream  ! 

Their  faces  melt  in  air  ! 
But  hark!  a  voice  celestial  breathes 

"  Look  up  !  they're  gathered  there  !  " 

O,  brothers,  sisters,  blest  the  tie, 

That  binds  us  to  our  home  ; 
That  to  this  household  links  us  still 

Where'er  our  feet  may  roam  ! 

And  blest  the  immortal  tie  that  binds 

To  that  dear  shadowy  throng, 
That,  just  a  little  farther  on 

In  life,  has  passed  along ! 

These  silken  chords  our  hearts  will  draw 

Toward  all  that's  good  and  true, 
Till  we  with  those  we  love  shall  meet 

Beyond  the  arch  of  blue ! 

And  so,  dear  Mother  Church, 

We  cluster  round  thy  knee  ; 
And  pray  thee  bless  us  every  one 

Thy  loyal  family. 

Our  filial  love  for  thee 

Is  pure  as  the  purest  gold, 
God  bless  thee  our  precious  mother, 

A  hundred  and  fifty  years  old  ! 

The  exercises  of  the  morning  were  concluded  with  singing 
"Old  Hundred." 


96  ANNIVERSARY   OF  THE 

EXERCISES  AFTER  COLLATION. 

The  CHAIRMAN — The  Committee  having  bestowed  upon 
me  full  autocratic  power,  and  all  here  feeling,  I  suppose, 
pretty  comfortable  after  the  bountiful  collation  which  has 
been  furnished  by  the  ladies,  I  shall  undertake  to  call  upon 
some  of  you  to  give  us  a  little  after-dinner  talk — nothing  elo- 
quent, but  good,  plain,  humorous,  pleasant  after-dinner  talk. 

Now,  the  next  best  thing  to  being  born  and  living  here,  I 
think,  is  to  marry  a  wife  in  Wilton ;  and  I  see  in  the  audience 
a  gentleman  who  had  that  rare  good  fortune.  Rev.  Mr.  Mix 
will  please  come  forward. 

The  reverend  gentleman  acknowledged  his  position  in 
fitting  words,  extending  affectionate  greetings  from  the  Pres- 
byterian Church  in  Orange,  N.  J.,  of  which  he  is  Pastor, 

The  CHAIRMAN — Ladies  and  Gentlemen:  I  want  to  say  a 
word  about  Ministers.  When  I  was  a  boy,  and  they  used  to 
stand  up  in  the  pulpit,  pretty  high  up,  with  plenty  long 
sermons,  I  don't  know  why,  but  somehow  or  other  I  didn't 
get  a  very  good  impression  of  them;  but  since,  as  I  have 
walked  through  life  with  them  on  the  same  plane,  I  find  that 
there  is  in  the  Ministers  of  to-day  a  good  deal  of  human 
nature,  and  I  don't  know  as  they  are  very  much  worse  than 
the  generality  of  men.  I  have  a  love  and  respect  for  the  old 
school  of  Ministers,  and  we  fortunately  have  one  of  them 
with  us  here  to-day — a  gentleman  who  commenced  the 
academical  course  of  his  education,  as  I  understand,  at  the 
Wilton  Academy  almost  at  its  foundation,  and  who  has  taken 
high  rank  in  the  profession  to  which  he  has  devoted  the 
energies  of  a  long  and  well-spent  life.  I  present  to  you 
the  Rev.  Dr.  BOUTON,  of  Concord,  New  Hampshire. 

REMARKS  OF  REY.  DR.  BOUTON. 

Mr.  PRESIDENT:  I  wish,  first  of  all,  to  thank  the  Com- 
mittee and  the  good  people  of  Wilton  for  giving  me  an 
invitation  to  attend  this  Anniversary.  Within  five  minutes 
after  I  received  your  invitation  I  said,  "  I  will  go,"  and  I  re- 


WILTON   CONGREGATIONAL   CHURCH.  97 

peated  it  to  my  family  as  soon  as  I  met  them,  "I  am  going 
to  Wilton."  Well,  a  little  wonder  was  expressed  why  I 
should  be  so  interested  to  go  to  Wilton,  but  I  told  them  that 
I  had  an  interest  in  Wilton,  and  an  interest  that  would  lead 
me  there  on  this  occasion.  I  have  a  long  time,  Mr.  President 
and  people  of  Wilton,  I  have  a  long  time  carried  a  burden 
which  has  weighed  upon  me  whenever  I  have  thought  of  it. 
I  am  greatly  in  debt  to  Wilton,  and  I  have  wished  for  an 
opportunity  to  pay  that  debt  in  such  coin  as  is  at  my  com- 
mand. I  will  tell  you  what  that  debt  is,  if  you  will 
indulge  me  in  a  few  moments'  remarks.  Perhaps  it  may 
take  a  little  longer  time  than  the  gentleman  took  who 
mixed  things  up.  But  to  begin,  sir.  I  have  an  interest 
in  Wilton  on  the  ground  of  soil.  I  am  accustomed 
to  look  somewhat  at  old  records,  and  I  looked  at  the  old 
Connecticut  records — the  Colony  records  of  Connecticut — and 
I  found  when  in  May,  1726,  a  petition  was  presented  to  the 
General  Court  of  Connecticut  for  the  laying  off  of  the  parish 
of  Wilton  from  the  town  of  Norwalk  into  a  village  (that  was 
the  language),  the  line  ran  through  Richard  Bouton's  and 
Joseph  (or  some  other  name)  Betts'  land,  and  Richard  Bou- 
ton's came  within  the  bounds  of  this  village  of  Wilton. 
Well,  who  was  Richard  Bouton  ?  He  was  a  son  of  the 
original  ancestor  of  the  Bouton  name,  settled  in  Norwalk, 
John  Bouton,  Senior.  And  besides  that  particular  connection 
there  was  another  on  which  I  claim  a  still  higher  and  deeper 
interest  than  even  that,  for  Richard  Bouton  was  the  grandson 
of  Matthew  Marvin,  Senior — himself  of  Norwalk,  but  whose 
descendants  are  here — and  Matthew  Marvin  is  an  honored 
name  in  the  town  of  Wilton,  long  to  be  remembered  by  this 
people.  Well,  now  it  just  happened  in  this  way.  That  John 
Bouton,  Senior,  came  over  the  same  year  (1635)  with  Matthew 
Marvin.  They  went  together  to  the  town  of  Hartford,  and 
there  remained  till  1651.  Together  John  Bouton  and  Matthew 
Marvin  were  admitted  as  freemen  in  the  Colony  of  Connec- 
ticut the  same  year  and  at  the  same  session  of  the  Court. 
They  came  to  Norwalk  together  in  1651.  In  1656  John 
Bouton  married  the  daughter  of  Matthew  Marvin,  and  Rich- 


98  ANNIVERSARY   OF   THE 

ard  Bouton  was  the  son  of  John,  so  that  Matthew  Marvin, 
Senior,  was  the  grandfather  of  Eishard  Bouton  ;  and  in  that 
line  I  stand,  so  that  I  claim  a  right  of  soil  in  Wilton  and  a 
relationship  to  some  of  your  best  families. 

Well,  now,  a  little  further,  Mr.  President.  I  said  I  owe  a 
great  debt  to  Wilton,  and  that  debt  came  of  my  education. 
I  commenced  study  in  1817,  and,  while  attending  school  a 
little  while  at  Norwalk  and  a  little  while  at  New  Canaan,  I 
received  an  invitation  from  the  "Rev.  Sylvanus  Haight,  bring- 
ing to  me  a  message  from  Hawley  Olmstead,  inviting  me  to 
come  to  the  school  which  he  had  then  recently  opened  just 
across  the  road  here.  There  is  where  I  closed  my  prepara- 
tion for  college,  and  from  there  went  with  the  recom- 
mendation of  my  honored  instructor,  Hawley  Olmstead,  and 
was  received  into  Yale  College. 

While  I  am  speaking  on  that  subject,  I  wish  to  say  that 
then  my  debt  was  contracted.     I  became  acquainted  with 
very  many  families  in  Wilton,  and  they  were  kind  enough 
to  entertain  me,  and  I  never  think  of  it  but  with  feelings  of 
deepest  gratitude  and  obligation  to  the  good  people  of  Wilton  ; 
and  I  have  often  thought  with   myself,  if  I  ever  have  an 
opportunity  I  will  pay  that  people  for  their  kindness  to  me. 
I  was  not  a  school-master  then,  but  I  boarded  around  by  par- 
ticular invitation ;  and  I  have  tried  to  recall  the  names  of  the 
families  that  were  pleased  so  kindly  to  entertain  me.      I  may 
omit  some  of  them — very  likely  I  shall — but  I  will  endeavor 
to  pay  my  debt  by  naming  the  great  kindness  of  Matthew 
Marvin  and  his  family  to  me  during  that  year  of  my  resi- 
dence here;  to  Captain  William  Sellick,  who,  I  believe,  lived 
on  the  brow  of  Belden's  Hill.     The  next  name  that  I  have  is 
Mr.  Nathan  Hubbell  and  his  wife,  never  to  be  forgotten ;  and 
I  often    thank    the  Lord  that  out  of  that  family,   perhaps, 
partly  the  reward  of  a  cup  of  cold  water,  if  nothing  more, 
one  of  the  sons  that  went  to  the  Academy  with  me  has  been 
an  honored  Minister  of  the  Gospel  for  years,  and  I  suppose  is 
still   living.      And   then    that   beloved    elder   brother,   Deu. 
Wakeman  Hubbell,  who,  the  last  time  I  was  here,  took  me 
all  over  town  and  reminded  me  here  and  there  of  the  places 


WILTON   CONGREGATIONAL   CHURCH.  99 

where  I  had  been ;  and  the  Lord  has  put  two  of  his  sons  into 
the  Ministry.  Besides  Mr.  Nathan  Hubbell,  I  remember  Mr. 
Levi  Scribner  and  his  wife,  now  among  the  oldest  people  of 
Wilton.  God  bless  them  in  their  old  age — ninety-four,  I  am 
told,  Mr.  Scribner  has  attained  to,  and  ninety  his  wife.  Well 
then,  again,  I  remember  the  Middle  brooks  (Jonathan  I  be- 
lieve the  name  was)  up  on  this  road  towards  Ridgefield,  and 
the  Comstocks  in  another  part  of  the  town,  and  Mr.  Lewis 
Betts  in  the  western  part  of  the  town — all  of  whom  enter- 
tained me,  and  I  wish  to  thank  them  to-day,  and  out  of  the 
fulness  of  my  heart  I  do  thank  them.  I  will  tell  you,  Mr. 
President,  that  when  I  have  been  under  the  inspiration  of  the 
Ministry,  and  have  felt  like  working  for  the  Master,  I  have 
felt  constantly  the  inspiration  that  came  upon  me — an  inspira- 
tion of  gratitude  for  the  goo  1  people  that  helped  me  on  in 
my  education.  And  now  I  thank  the  people  of  Wilton,  and 
all  the  descendants  of  those  families  and  others,  for  their 
kindness  to  me  in  the  days  of  my  youth. 

Well,  among  my  memories,  Mr.  President,  I  remember  cer- 
tain excellent  women  of  Wilton.  I  like  all  good  women,  al- 
ways did,  but  there  were  some  that  were  "  gooder,  "  at  least  I 
thought  they  were  very  good  and  I  held  them  in  very  high 
esteem.  Now,  if  the  other  ladies  won't  deem  it  invidious, 
I  wish  to  name  certain  good  women.  I  had  a  most  profound 
respect  and  even  reverence  for  the  piety  and  good  sense  of 
Mrs.  Matthew  Marvin,  and  I  held  in  equal  honor,  I  think, 
Mrs.  Nathan  Hubbell,  and  I  had  a  profound  respect  for  the 
wife  of  the  Rev.  Sylvanus  Haight.  But  among  others  I  re- 
member a  Miss  Dolly  Gregory  with  great  pleasure.  I  used  to 
walk  on  the  same  road  sometimes  going  to  Mr.  Sellick's 
and  often  fell  in  with  Miss  Dolly.  There  was  this  excellence 
about  her;  she  was  one  of  the  active  young  women  of  this 
Church  and  she  was  one  of  the  persons  alluded  to  in  the 
speech  to-day,  that  took  the  liberty,  perhaps  with  the 
consent  of  the  Pastor,  to  open  a  Sunday-school.  I  had  a 
Sunday-school  off  in  this  direction  and  she  had  one  over  in 
this  direction.  And  then  besides  Miss  Dolly  Gregory  there 
was  Miss  Dolly  Hoyt  and  there  was  a  Miss  SusanJComstock. 


100  ANNIVERSARY   OF   THE 

They  were  remarkably  pious  and  excellent  }roung  women, 
and  those  two  last,  having  the  grace  of  God  in  their  hearts, 
the  love  of  Christ  burning  in  a  flame  there,  were  not  content 
to  minister  to  Sunday-schools  in  Wilton,  but  went  out  as 
missionaries,  and  I  suppose,  spent  their  lives  and  died  as  mis- 
sionary teachers. 

Well,  now,  there  are  certain  other  reminiscences  of  which  I 
would  speak.  I  wish  to  say  that  there  was  no  man  in  my 
youth,  no  man  in  later  years,  for  whom  I  entertained  a  higher 
respect  and  a  higher  reverence  than  for  Hawley  01  instead, 
Esq.  He  esteemed  me  more  highly  than  I  deserved,  but,  I 
am  sure,  I  loved  him  not  more  than  he  deserved.  I  heard 
the  first  prayer  that  he  ever  offered  in  his  school,  and  it  so 
impressed  me  at  the  time,  that  I  remember  to  this  day  one 
sentence  in  it,  and  that  was,  I  think,  in  these  very  words : 
"  That  we  might  consider  ourselves  as. strangers  and  sojourn- 
ers  upon  earth,  a  lodging  place  only  for  the  night  until  the 
day  dawn  that  shall  never  end."  That  was  one  petition  in 
his  prayer. 

Well,  then,  of  Rev.  Sylvanus  Haight,  sir,  he.  was  my  friend. 
He  took  me  by  the  hand,  he  opened  the  way  for  me  to  go  in- 
to that  school,  and  Mr.  Haight  was  my  friend  as  long  as  he 
lived.  I  look  upon  it  as  one  of  the  remarkable  favors  of 
Divine  Providence,  that  I  was  permitted  to  be  with  him  and 
to  offer  prayer  with  him  just  before  he  died.  It  came  to  pass 
in  this  way.  I  started  on  my  way  for  the  Christian  Commis- 
sion in  1864,  and  heard  on  the  way  that  Mr.  Haight  was 
sick.  I  immediately  weric  to  his  chamber.  There  he  was 
lying  upon  his  sick-bed,  and  as  all  supposed  his  dying-bed. 
I  talked  with  him  a  few  moments,  expressed  my  thanks  to 
him  for  his  goodness  to  me,  and  then  said  he,  "  Will  you 
pray  ?  "  I  knelt  down  by 'his  bedside,  putting  my  hands  up- 
on the  pillow  where  he  was  dying,  and  next  morning  the 
news  came  to  me;  Mr.  Haight  is  dead.  Well,  now,  about 
his  eloquence,  about  his  character  as  a  preacher.  I  could 
heartily  respond  to  what  was  said  by  the  historian  to-day  in 
several  respects,  and  I  have  an  impression  to  this  day  of  one 
of  those  sermons.  It  was  on  the  Judgment  Day.  He  rose  in 


WILTON    CONGREGATIONAL    CHURCH.  101 

that  sermon  to  a  very  high  pitch  of  eloquence ;  it  was 
solemnly  and  awfully  impressive.  I  remember,  on  that 
occasion,  speaking  about  the  solemnity  of  the  Great  Day 
of  Judgment,  he  said,  among  other  things,  "  It  seems  to  me 
that  no  man  can  look  forward  to  the  scenes  of  the 
Judgment  without  a  degree  of  fear  and  trembling.  I  am 
sure  I  cannot."  Well,  there  was  Mrs.  Elias  Betts,  one  of  the 
most  remarkably  pious  women  that  I  ever  knew,  and  under 
that  sermon,  overwhelmed  as  she  was,  she  literally  went  away 
trembling,  and  to  her,  above  almost  any  Christian  woman  I 
•ever  knew,  might  be  applied  the  language  of  the  Prophet  or 
the  language  of  God  through  the  Prophet,  "  The  High  and 
lofty  One  who  inhabiteth  eternity  dwelleth  in  the  high  and 
holy  Place,  yet  also  with  him  that  is  of  a  contrite  and  humble 
spirit  and  that  trembleth  at  my  word."  That  Christian  wo- 
man always  trembled  under  God's  great  truth. 

Well,  Mr.  President,  I  will  not  enlarge ;  I  have  taken  up 
too  much  time  already,  but  I  desire  to  repeat  again  my  thanks 
to  the  good  people  of  Wilton  for  their  kindness  to  me  in  the 
days  of  my  youth,  and  for  the  inspiration  that  their  aid  gave 
me,  to  do  what  was  in  my  power  for  the  cause  of  the  Blessed 
Master. 

I  ought  to  say  that  in  that  regard  I  have  not  been  without 
a  blessing.  After  completing  my  college  course  I  went  directly 
to  Andover  Theological  Seminary  and  the  very  day  that  I 
closed  my  studies  at  Andover  I  received  application  from  a 
gentleman  to  go  as  a  candidate  to  the  Church  in  Concord,  New 
Hampshire.  I  went  and  have  been  there  to  this  time.  I  was 
Pastor  of  the  First  Church  forty-two  years,  and  then  resigned. 
In  that  period  God  blessed  my  labors  so  farthatoversevenhun- 
dred  were  admitted  to  the  Church  of  which  I  was  Pastor,  a  larger 
number  were  baptized,  and  I  have  had  a  very  happy  relation 
with  that  people,  never  a  ripple  on  the  surface  of  things  from 
the  day  of  my  ordination  till  this  time.  Having  resigned  my 
pastorate  after  forty-two  years,  I  am  now  one  of  the  parish- 
ioners, sitting  every  Sabbath  in  my  seat,  and  conscious, 
through  the  goodness  of  God,  of  having  the  favor  still  of  the 
people,  and  though  I  resigned  my  situation  after  forty-two  years 


102  ANNIVERSARY   OF  THE 

of  service,  I  have  been  well  employed  during  the  last  ten  years, 
and  hope  through  the  goodness  of  God  to  do  a  little  more 
service  for  the  Master.  During  all  the  time  I  have  never  been 
sick.  I  have  never  been  laid  aside  from  my  work.  I  have 
been  enabled  to  go  in  and  out  year  after  year  without  any  in- 
terruption, and  so  having  obtained  help  of  the  Lord  I  continue 
till  this  day.  I  may  never  have  another  opportunity,  but  this 
I  say  truly  and  heartily  to  this  beloved  people,  I  thank  you  for 
your  goodness  to  me,  and  I  bid  the  children  and  children's 
children  of  those  who  helped  me  farewell. 

Two  verses  of  "  All  hail  the  power  of  Jesus'  name  "  was 
sung  to  Coronation,  in  which  the  congregation  heartily  joined. 

The  CHAIRMAN — This  Church  is  so  closely  connected  with 
the  Norwalk  Church,  I  believe  a  good  many  of  you  here 
would  like  to  hear  from  some  one  from  that  town.  I  call  on 
the  Kev.  Mr.  DUNNING  of  South  Norwalk. 

In  the  absence  of  the  Eev.  Mr.  Hamilton  of  the  First 
Church,  Norwalk,  the  Parent  Church,  Mr.  DUNNING  grace- 
fully responded  for  the  South  Norwalk  Church,  the  youngest 
of  the  five  daughters. 

The  CHAIRMAN — The  ministers  and  teachers  and  doctors 
have  had  something  to  say  here,  and  now  I  think  the  lawyers 
ought  to  be  heard.  I  understand  Mr.  EUGENE  SMITH  of  New 
York  is  in  the  house,  and  he  will  now  address  you. 

Mr.  SMITH  obeyed,  and  in  well-chosen  words  confessed  to 
the  bonds  which  tie  him  to  the  spot  of  his  boyhood  years. 

Mr.  N.  M.  BELDEN  of  Southport,  Dr.  Bela  ST.  JOHN  of  Wol- 
cottville,  and  C.  L.  WESTCOTT,  Esq.,  of  New  York,  answered 
to  their  names  when  called  upon,  and  bore  grateful  testimony 
to  the  joy  and  glory  of  the  occasion  which  had  brought  them 
here. 

Rev.  Mr.  Willard  then  read  a  letter  from  Eev.  Mr.  HAR- 
VEY, also  a  list  of  Wiltonian  graduates  from  different 
American  colleges ;  after  which  the  choir  and  congregation 
joined  in  singing  "  Hold  the  Fort,"  and  the  audience  was- 
dismissed  with  the  benediction  by  Rev.  Mr.  MERWIN. 


APPENDIX. 


i. 

The  names  of  the  signers  of  the  petition,  that  Wilton  might  be  consti- 
tuted a  "  parish  or  village,"  were  : 

JOSEPH  1LMEK,  DANIEL  TROWBRIDGE, 

JOSEPH  JUMP,  NATHAN  OLMSTEAD, 

DANIEL  ABBOTT,  STEPHEN'  BUCKINGHAM, 

JOSEPH  TABLE,  JOHN  STUART, 

JOHN  KEELER,  BENJAMIN  H1CKOK, 

MATTHEW  ST.  JOHN,  RICHARD  BOUTON, 

DAVID  KEELER,  OBADIAH  WOOD, 

JOHN  ST.  JOHN,  THOMAS  BOUTON, 

DAVID  BETTS,  JAMES  TROWBRIDGE, 

SAMUEL  BETTS,  Ja.,  JONATHAN  STUBDEVANT, 

STEPHEN  BETTS,  RALPH  KEELER, 

NATHANIEL  8LAUSON,  JArHIN  GREGORY", 

JOHN  WOOD,  JB.,  JOHN  DUNNIN'G, 

JONATHAN  WOOD,  JB.,  NATHANIEL  KETOHUM, 

NATHAN  BETTS,  JOHN  TAYLOR, 
WILLIAM  PARKEB. 

II. 

The  Managers  chosen  at  the  first  meeting  of  the  Ladies'  Society  (1836) 
were  mostly  young  ladies.  These  names,  as  they  stand  on  the  list,  are  : 
Mrs.  William  Belden,  Mrs.  Harriet  (Charles)  Gregory,  Miss  Susan  Merwin 
(Mrs.  George  I.  Wood),  Miss  Maria  Randle  (Mrs.  William  Ogden),  Miss 
Mary  Cole,  Miss  Jane  Munroe,  Miss  Jane  E.  St.  John  (Mrs.  Cyrus  Ray- 
mond), Miss  Susan  Hoyt,  Miss  Susan  Comstock,  Miss  Mary  E.  Comstock 
(Mrs  Lewis  Keeler),  Miss  Mary  Middlebrook  (Mrs.  Harris),  Miss  Louise 
Jessup  (Mrs.  Thomas  B.  Gunning). 

III. 

The  following  persons  were  teachers  of  the  Academy  for  brief  periods. 
Some  of  the  dates  are  approximate  only : 
Xenophen  BeUs  -   1823          William  E.  Watrous  -  1842-43 

Storrs  Hall  -      1840-41     Odle  Close 1843-44 

Charles  Jones    -  -  1843-44    James  G.  Rowland    -  1846-49 

George  William  Burr  1844-45    N.  Marvin  Belden   - 

IV. 

For  the  Fair  in  aid  of  the  Church  Repairing  Fund,  held  June  26th 
and  27th,  1844,  at  the  house  of  Mr.  Nathan  Comstock,  the  following  Coin- 


104  APPENDIX. 

mittees  were  appointed  some  weeks  earlier  at  a  meeting  of  the  Ladies' 
Society.  It  is  safe  to  believe  that  a  much  larger  number  rendered  valu- 
able service  at  the  Fair  : 

Committee  of  Superintendence — Miss  Dolly  Gregory,  Mrs.  James  Betts, 
Mrs  J»hn  Smith. 

Committee  on  loe  Cream — Mrs.  Charles  Marvin,  Mrs.  George  B.  Middle- 
brook,  Mrs.  George  H .  Randle. 

Committee  for  Sale  of  Ice  Cream — Misses  Mary  Ferris  and  Susan  E. 
Comstock. 

To  Arrange  the  Tables— Mrs .  C.  Marvin,  Mrs.  G.  H.  Randle,  Mrs.  Legrand 
Comstock  ;  Misses  C.  M.  Gregory,  Clara  Willard  and  Mary  Randle. 

To  tiell  Fancy  Articles— Miss  C.  M.  Gregory,  Miss  C.  Willard,  Mrs.  S. 
Comstock,  Miss  Martha  Keeler,  Miss  Ann  Olmstead  and  Miss  Mary 
Randle. 

To  Sell  Books— Misses  Susan  Dudley,  Charlotte  Betts  and  Elizab  th 
Willard. 

To  Attend  th«  Eefreshmeni  Tablet,  were  nominated— Mrs.  Willard,  Mrs. 
S.  P.  Randle,  Mrs.  Maria  Ogden;  probably  many  others  served. 

Door-Keepers — Sylvester  D .  Willard,  Charles  M.  Gregory. 

General  Assistants  in  Preliminary  Preparations — Messrs.  Legrand  Keeler, 
Legrand  Comstock,  Lockwood  K.  Ferris,  G.  H.  Randle  and  Dr.  Syl- 
vester Mead. 

Charles  St.  John,  of  New  York,  was  very  helpful  as  Auctioneer  at  the 
Fair. 

V. 

The  influence  of  the  Church  through  its  Pastor,  Dr.  Lewis,  in  favor  of 
education  is  seen  in  the  four  young  men  (his  two  sons,  also  David  Bel - 
den  and  Matthew  Marvin),  whom  he  is  supposed  to  have  fitted  for  Col- 
lege. Professor  Stuart  and  Rev.  William  Belden  were  born  during  his 
ministry. 

For  the  last  sixty  years  the  influence  of  the  Academy,  which,  without 
the  Church  had  not  existed,  has  been  so  marked,  that  it  is  thought  best 
to  append  a  table  showing  the  names  of  natives  and  adopted  sons  of 
Wilton,  who  were  graduates  of  College,  or  entered  one  of  the  learned  pro- 
fessions, or  were  authors,  editors  or  teachers  ;  also  of  ladies  who  them- 
selves, or  whose  husbands,  belonged  to  one  of  these  Classes.  The  table 
is  necessarily  incomplete,  but  may  be  helpful  to  those  who  celebrate  the 
Centennial  of  the  town,  or  the  second  Centennial  of  the  Church: 

DAVID  LAMBERT  (Y.  C.  1761). 

Dea.  MATTHEW  MARVIN  (Y .  C.  1785),  died  1842.  He  was  the  son  of 
Matthew  Marvin  and  the  sixth  in  descent  from  Matthew  Marvin,  one 
of  the  first  settlers  of  Norwalk . 

Rev.  DAVID  BELDEN  (Y.  C.  1785),  died  1832.  Took  orders  in  the 
Episcopal  Church.  Afterwards  engaged  in  farming,  and  resided  in  the 


APPENDIX.  105 

upper  part  of  Pirnpewaug,  on  the  west  side  of  the  road,  near  its  junction 
•with  the  Sugar  Hollow  turnpike. 

Rev.  ZECHARIAH  LEWIS,  and  Rev.  ISAAC  LEWIS,  D.D.  (twin  sons  of 
Rev.  Isaac  Lewis,  D.D.),  born  January  1st,  1773,  graduated  at  Yale  1794. 
Useful  and  honored  in  many  ways.  (See  Sprague's  Annals,  vol.  1,  p. 
666.)  Zechariah  died  in  Brooklyn,  N.  Y.,  November  14th,  1840;  Isaac 
died  in  New  York,  September  23d,  1854. 

Prof.  MOSES  STUART  (Y.  C.  1799),  died  1852.     See  p»ge  76. 

Rev.  WILLIAM  BELDEN  (Y.  C.  1803),  died  1861.  Born  July  16th,  1781. 
Son  of  Azor  Belden.  From  1812  to  1821  he  was  Pastor  at  Greenfield,  and 
Teacher  there  and  afterwards  at  Fairfield  ;  also  in  1824  to  1843  in  New 
York  City.  Resided  in  Brooklyn  1858  to  1861 . 

BENJAMIN  BELDEN,  M.D.  Son  of  Azor  Belden.  Physician,  New  York 
City.  Still  lives. 

LEWIS  BELDEN,  M.D.  (Princeton,  1811).,  Physician,  New  York  City. 
Died  1831.  Son  of  Azor  Belden. 

CHARLES  BELDEN  M.D.  (Princeton,  1812).  Son  of  Azor  Belden. 
Teacher.  Died,  in  New  York,  "  about  fifty  years  ago." 

EBENEZER  SEBLEY,  son  of  Ebenezer  (Y.  C.  1814).  Born  April  6th,  1793. 
Lawyer,  many  years  in  New  Haven  ;  afterwards  in  New  York,  where  he 
died,  January  23d,  1866. 

HAWLEY  OLMSTEAD,  LL.D.  (Y.  C.  1816),  died  1868.     See  page  52. 

ISAAC  M.  STURGES  (Union,  1817),  died  1850.  Son  of  Ezekiel  Sturges  ; 
lived  a  farmer  at  Wilton,  and  died  July  loth,  1850,  aged  sixty-two  years. 

DAVID  HULL  BELDEN,  son  of  Rev.  David  Belden,  lawyer  at  Newtown, 
States  Attorney,  died  a  few  years  since. 

Dea.  CHARLES  MARVIN  (Y.  C.  1823).  Son  of  Dea.  Matthew  Marrin. 
Farmer,  banker,  several  times  member  of  the  Legislature,  and  bank  com- 
missioner. 

Rev.  STEPHEN  HUBBELL  (Y.  C.  1826).  Son  of  Nathan  and  Sarah 
Hubbell.  Ordained  at  Mount  Carniel,  May  18th,  1830 ;  dismissed  1836. 
Ins  ailed  at  Wolcottville,  February  29tb,  1837;  dismissed  September 
29th,  1839.  Pastor  at  East  Av-m,  December  31st,  1849,  to  July  1st,  1853. 
Pastor  at  North  Stonington,  August  17th,  1853,  to  April  6th,  1869. 
Pastor  at  Long  Ridge,  1869  to  October  28th,  1873.  Resides  at  Mount 
Carinel,  Conn.  , 

Dt  a,  IRA  GREGORY.  M.D.  (Yale  Med.  School,  1829).  Son  of  Moses  and 
Abigail  Gregory.  Born  January  31s',  1804.  Practised  medicine  at 
Moiiches,  Long  Island,  1829-1840,  and  at  Norwalk  1840-1872.  Deacon 
in  the  First  Church  at  Norwalk  many  years.  Died  September  2d,  1872. 

Dea.  JAMES  BETTS.     See  Deacons. 

DAVID  LAMBERT  (Trinity,  1836).    Lawyer,  editor.     Died  1849. 

ISAAC  M.  STURGES.  Son  of  Erastus  Sturges.  Lawyer;  office  in  Bridge- 
P  ^rt. 


106  APPENDIX. 

Rev.  SAMUEL  J.  M.  MERWIN  (Y.  C.  1839).     See  page  66. 

WILLIAM  C.  BETTS,  M.D.  (Yale  Med.  School,  1843).  Son  of  David 
Betts.  Physician  in  Brooklyn,  N.  Y.  Died  1871. 

Rev.  LEVI  WAKEMAN.  Son  of  William.  Not  a  native,  but  from  earl}' 
life  a  resident  of  Wilton.  Learned  a  trade  with  Alfred  Mallory  at  Nor- 
walk.  Studied  in  New  Haven.  Entered  the  Ministry  (Baptist)  about 
thirty  years  ago.  Preached  in  Stepney,  W.  Woodstock  and  New  Hart- 
ford. Resides  in  Stamford,  Conn. 

LEWIS  R.  HURLBUTT,  M.D.  (Y.  C.  1843).  Son  of  John  and  Elizabeth 
(Ogden)  Hurlbutt.  Principal  of  Bacon  Academy,  Colchester,  1843-1845; 
Grammar  School,  Hartford,  1845-1847.  Tutor  in  Yale  College  1847- 
1850.  Physician  and  surgeon,  Stamford,  Conn. 

CHARLES  JONES  (Y.  C.  1843).  Son  of  Capt.  John  Jones.  Teacher  in 
Wilton  Academy  1843-1844.  Member  of  Legislature  of  Connecticut 
1844.  Lawyer,  New  York  City.  Residence,  Brooklyn. 

Rev.  JOHN  H.  BETTS  (Trinity,  1844).  Son  of  Capt.  Ira  Betts.  Rector 
in  the  Episcopal  Church  in  New  Hartford  and  elsewhere. 

Dea.  EDWARD  OLMSTEAD  (Y.  C.  1845).    See  Deacons. 

Rev.  SAMUEL  G.  WILLARD  ( Y.  C .  1846).  Son  of  Dr.  David  and  Abby 
(Gregory)  Willard.  Ordained  Pastor  at  Willimanticr  November  8th, 
1849  ;  dismissed  September  8th,  1868.  Installed  Pastor  at  Colchester, 
September  23d,  1868.  Member  of  Y.  C.  Corporation  1867. 

SYLVESTER  D.  WILLARD,  M.D.  (Albany  Med.  College,  1847).  Son  of 
Dr.  David  and  Abby  (Gregory)  Willard.  Born  June  19th,  1825.  Sec- 
retary of  the  New  York  State  Medical  Society  1857-1865.  Practising 
physician  at  Albany,  N.  Y.  Surgeon-General  1865.  Died  April  2d,  1865. 
Aided  to  found  the  Willard  Asylum  for  the  Insane  at  Ovid,  N.  Y.,  which 
was  named  from  him. 

THEODORE  BENJAMIN.  Son  of  George.  Grandson  of  Dr.  Abram  Chi- 
che-;ter.  Born  about  1825.  Removed  to  Rochester,  N.  Y.,  about  1832. 
Reported  to  have  entered  the  Ministry. 

JOHN  A.  BETTS,  M.D.  (Yale  Med.  School,  1848).  Son  of  David  Betts. 
Brother  of  Dea.  James  Betts.  Practising  physician  at  Brooklyn,  N.  Y., 
where  he  now  resides. 

ROGER  S.  OLMSTEAD,  M.D.  (Yale  Med.  School,  1849).  Son  of  Hon. 
Hawley  Olmstead.  Entered  Yale ;  studied  medicine ;  practised  in 
Brooklyn,  N.  Y.  Resides  now  in  Omaha,  Neb. 

N.  MARVIN  BELDEN  (Trinity,  1849).  Son  of  John  A.  Belden.  Grand- 
son of  Rev.  David  Belden,  and  of  Nathan  Marvin.  Tutor  in  Trinity. 
Resides  in  Southport. 

Rev.  HENRY  L.  HUBBELL  (Y  C.  1854).  Eldest  son  of  Deacon  Wake- 
man  and  Julia  Lynes  Hubbell.  Ordained  at  Auiherst,  Mass.,  April  24th, 
1861;  dismissed  April  5th,  1865.  Acting-Pastor  in  Unionville,  Conn. 
Pastor  elect  Ann  Arbor,  Michigan,  since  1869. 


APPENDIX.  107 

Rev.  JAMES  W.  HUBBELL  (Y.  C.  1857).  Son  of  Deacon  "W.  and  Julia 
L.  Hnbbell.  Ordained  at  Milford,  September  21st,  1864;  dismissed 
June  1st,  1868.  Installed  June  10th,  1868,  College  Street  Church,  New 
Haven. 

EUGENE  SMITH  (Y.  C.  1859).  Son  of  Matthew  and  Mary  A.  (Daven- 
port) Smith.  Born  in  New  York  City.  Resided  in  Wilton  most  of  the 
time  until  after  graduation.  Lawyer.  Resides  in  New  York  City. 

COLET  JAMES.  Entered  Trinity,  1857.  Did  not  graduate.  lieceived 
A.  M.  from  Trinity,  1869. 

JOHN  HENRY  HURLBUTT.  Entered  Trinity  in  1858,  Class  of  '62,  and 
left  June,  1860. 

BELA  ST.  JOHN,  M.D.  Son  of  Bela  St.  John.  Practised  dentistry  sev- 
eral years  in  Daubury  ;  is  in  gen-  ral  practice  in  Wolcottville,  Conn. 

GEORGE  FILLOW.  Son  of  Seih  Fillow.  Graduate  of  State  Normal 
School  ;  toucher  in  Hartford  several  years.  Residence,  Wilton. 

SAMUEL  T.  JONES.  Son  of  John  and  Mary  (Thorp)  Jones.  Born  De- 
cember 20th,  1884.  Lawyer  in  New  York  1855-1873.  Clerk  of  U.  S. 
District  Court.  U.  S.  Commissioner.  Died  December  24th,  1873. 

SAMUEL  H.  OLMSTEAD,  M.D.  (Yale  Med.  School,  1861).  Son  of  Hawley 
Olmstead.  In  practice  of  medicine  and  surgeryat  Brooklyn,  N.  Y. 

J.  BELDEN  HUBLBUTT.  Sou  of  John  Hurlbutt,  Jr.  Lawyer  ;  office  in 
Norwalk.  Acting  School  Visitor  in  Wilton. 

Rev.  JOHN  GAYLORD  DAVENPORT  (Williams,  1863).  Son  of  Charles  A. 
and  Sarah  (Gaylord)  Davenport.  Pastor,  East  Bridgeport,  Conn.  Or- 
dained July  1st,  1868. 

Rev.  LEWIS  GREGORY  (Y.  C.  1864).  Son  of  Charles  and  Harriet  (Clark) 
Gregory.  Grandson  of  Moses.  Ordained  October  15th,  1868,  Pastor. 
West  Amesbury,  Mass.;  dismissed  1875  to  go  to  Lincoln,  Neb.,  where  he 
is  now  acting-Pastor. 

CLARENCE  L.  WESTCOTT  (Y.  C.  1864).  Son  of  George  B.  and  Arethusa 
(Lincoln)  Westcott.  Lawyer,  New  York  City. 

CHARLES  F.  MORGAN,  M.D.  (Y.  C.  Med.  School,  1866).  Son  of  Charles 
A.  and  Electa  B.  Morgan.  Physician  in  practice  at  Norwalk. 

SAMUEL  KEELER  (Y.  C.  1867).  Son  of  Legrand  W.  and  Catharine 
(Lockwood)  Keeler.  Lawyer,  New  York  City. 

STRONG  COMSTOCK  (Y.  C.  1867).  Son  of  Capt.  James  and  Harriet 
(Betts)  Comstock.  Teacher,  Walton,  N.  Y. 

GORDON  HALL,  A.B.  (Amherst,  about  1869).  Son  of  Rev.  Gordon  Hall, 
D.D.  Banker,  Northampton,  Mass. 

DANIEL  DAVENPORT  (Y.  C.  1873).  Son  of  Judge  George  A.  and  Mary 
(Sturges)  Davenport.  Lawyer,  Bridgeport. 

TIMOTHY  DAVENPORT  ( Y.  C.  1875).     Brother  of  Daniel.     Law  student. 

BENJAMIN  DAVENPORT.  Brother  of  preceding,  and  member  for  a  time 
of  Class  of  1875,  Y.  C.  Lawyer,  Washington,  D.  C. 


108  APPENDIX. 

DAVID  R.  LAMBERT.  Son  of  Samuel  Lambert,  and  member  for  a 
time  of  Class  of  1875,  Y.  C.  Residence,  Wilton. 

SAMUEL  E.  MORGAH,  M.D.  (Yale  Col.  Med.  School,  1875).  Son  of 
Charles  A.  and  Electa  B.  Morgan.  Residence,  Wilton. 

CHARLES  GILBERT  (W.  C.  187(5).  Son  of  Dua.  Benajah  and  Fanny 
(Keeler)  Gilbert. 

I.  CHAUNCEY  STURGES  (graduated  at  Berkley  Dir.  School,  Middle- 
town,  1876).  Son  of  J.  Randall  Sturges.  Residence,  Kent,  Conn. 

FREDERIC  D.  BENEDICT  (two  years  at  Y.  C.  in  Class  of  1867  ;  Danville 
Tbeo.  Sem.,  Kentucky).  San  of  I.  Newton  and  Emily  (Keeler)  Benedict. 


SUSAN  COMBTOCK  (Mrs.  Requa),  d.  Strong.  Missionary  of  Am.  Board 
in  1822  to  Osage  Indians.  Married  Rev.  William  0.  Requa. 

ANN  HUBBHLL  (Mrs.  Dr.  Nash),  d.  Nathan  Hubbell.  Married  Mr.  Burr, 
of  Fairfield,  who  died  early.  One  son,  George  William  Burr,  member 
for  a  time  of  the  Class  of  1846  Y.  C. ;  afterwards  a  lawyer  in  New  York, 
who  died  about  1860.  Married  Dr.  William  B.  Nash,  Bridgeport,  who 
died  in  1873.  Resides  in  New  Haven. 

JANE  BELDEN  (Mrs.  Booth),  d.  Rev.  David  Belden.  Married  Reuben 
Booth  (Y.  C.  1816),  lawyer,  Lieut, -Gov.  Connecticut.  Resided  in  Din- 
bury.  Died  1844. 

ABBY  GBEQOBY  (Mrs.  Dr.  Willard),  d.  Moses.  Born  April  20th,  1797. 
Married  Dr.  David  Willard,  December  22d,  1818.  Died  January  3d,  1857. 

HENRIETTA  BELDEN  (Mrs.  Dr.  Stone),  d.  Col.  WillUm  and  Mrs.  Becca 
Belden.  Married  Dr.  Stone  and  went  South.  Both  died  early. 

MABIA  HTJBBELL  (Mrs.  Dr.  Lewis),  d.  Nathan  Hubbell.  Married  Dr. 
Lewis,  of  Brockport,  N.  Y. 

HARRIET  CANNON  (Mrs.  Todd),  d.  George  Cannon.  Married  about  1834 
Rev.  Charles  Todd,  Rector  of  the  Episcopal  Church  in  Wilton.  She  died 
in  Huntington,  Conn.,  1849. 

ESTHEB  M.  TAYLOB,  d.  Levi  Taylor.  About  1838  married  Dr.  Ambrose 
L.  White,  surgeon,  U.  S.  A.  Died  1876. 

LOUISA  JESSUP  (Mrs.  Gunning),  d.  William  and  Nancy  (Odell)  Jessup. 
Graduate  of  Rutgers  Institute;  teacher  in  New  York.  Married  about 
1844  Dr.  Thomas  B.  Gunning,  dental  surgeon,  New  York. 

ELIZABEIH  JESSUP  (Mrs  Reed),  cl.  William.  Marrud  James  Reed,  editor 
of  the  Norwalk  Gazerte,  and  now,  for  many  years,  editor  of  the  Asl. tabula 
Telegraph,  Ohio. 

EMILY  JESSUP,  d.  William.  Gradutte  of  Mt.  Holyoke  ;  was  M  venil 
years  assistant  teacher  there,  and  n  >w  occupies  thu  position  of  fir-t  as- 
sistant in  the  Western  Female  Semin  iry,  Oxford,  Ohio. 

CHABLOTTE  BETTS  (Mrs.  Barnum),  sister  Dea.  James  Betts.  Teacher. 
Married  Rev.  Samuel  W.  Barnum  (Y.  C.  1841),  who  was  ordained  Jan- 


APPENDIX.  109" 

uary  25th,  1853.     Pastor,  Massachusetts,  to  1862.     Editor  "Abridgement 
Smith's  Bible  Dictionary,"  and  other  works.     Residence,  New  Haven. 

MART  RANDLE  (Mrs.  Willard),  d.  Samuel  P.  and  Sally  (Hyatt)  Randle. 
Born  June  8th,  1821.  Studied  at  Wilton  Academy  and  Utica  (N.  Y.)  Fe- 
male Seminary.  Married  Rev.  S.  G.  Willard,  November  14th,  1849. 
Died  at  Willimantic,  May  15th,  1853. 

CLARA  A.  WILLABD,  d.  Dr.  David  W.  Born  February  4th,  1823.  Studied 
in  Wilton  and  Bridgeport.  Teacher  of  private  and  family  school  twenty 
years,  or  more,  in  Wilton.  Author  of  "Nellie  Greyson,"  "Fifty  Years 
Ago,"  and  other  works.  Died  at  Norwalk,  February  15tb,  1876. 

ELIZABETH  WILLARD  (Mrs.  L.  J.  Curtis),  d.  Dr.  David  W.  Married,  April 
2d,  1850,  James  G.  Rowland  (Y.  C.  1846),  who  opened  a  family  school  for 
boys  in  Kent,  and  died  August  20th,  1853.  Mrs.  E.  continued  the  school, 
and  taught  till  1864.  October  20th,  1864,  she  married  Lewis  J.  Curtis,  of 
Norwalk. 

MARY  WILLARD  (Mrs.  Salmon  C.  Gillett),  d.  Dr.  David  W.  Studied  in 
New  Haven.  Teacher  for  years.  Residence,  Colchester,  Ct. 

SOSAN  WILLABD  (Mrs.  Mix),  d.  Dr.  David  W.  Taught  for  a  time.  May 
1st,  1860,  married  Rev.  Eldridge  Mix  (Williams  College,  1854).  He  was 
assistant  to  the  Rev.  Dr.  Hastings  (New  York)  1860-61;  Pastor  in  Burling- 
ton, Vt.,  1862  to  August  20th,  1867  ;  Paster  First  Church  in  Orange,  N.  J., 
1867. 

ELIZABETH  MIDDLEBROOK  (Mrs.  Hill),  d.  Col.  George  M.  Married,  1856, 
John  Hill,  M.D.,  for  some  years  physician  and  surgeon  in  Brooklyn, 
N.  Y. ;  now  in  South  Norwalk. 

LUCBETIA  MEDDLEBBOOK  (Mrs.  Brown),  d.  Col.  George  M.  Married  Au- 
gustus Brown,  lawyer,  Ballston,  N.  Y.  Mr.  and  Mrs.  Brown  died  early. 

GERTRUDE  MIDDLEBBOOK  (Mrs.  Turner),  d.  Col.  George  M.  Married  J. 
Edward  Turner,  M.D.,  the  founder  and  first  Superintendent  of  the  Bing- 
hamton  Asylum  for  Inebriates.  They  reside  in  Wilton. 

HARRIET  FITCH  (Mrs.  Gregory),  d.  J.  Platt  Fitch.  Married  Rev.  Abel 
Ogden  (Trinity,  1842),  some  time  Rector  of  St.  Matthew's  Church,  Wilton, 
who  died  1854 ;  married,  second  time,  to  Rev.  Luther  Gregory,  Rector 
of  St.  Paul's  Church,  Huntingdon,  who  died  about  1863. 

MARY  W.  GREGORY  (Mrs.  Hubbell),  d.  Charles.  Married  Rev.  James  W. 
Hubbell,  A.D.  1861.  Residence,  New  Haven. 

ALICE  WESTCOTT  (Mrs.  J.  G.  Davenport),  d.  George  B.  Married  Rev. 
John  G.  Davenport,  Bridgeport. 

LOUISA  RANDLE,  daughter  George  H.  and  Caroline  (Lounsbury)  Randle. 
Lady  Principal,  Seminary,  Penn  Yan,  New  York. 

HELEN  RANDLE  (Mrs.  Barnum),  d.  George.  H.  Graduate  of  State  Nor- 
mal School.  Married  Rev.  Henry  S.  Barmim  (Y.  C.  1862)  March  10th, 
1869.  Mr.  Barnurn  is  in  the  service  of  the  American  Board.  They  are 
stationed  at  Van,  East<  rn  Turkey. 


110  APPENDIX. 

SABAH  RANDLE  (Mrs.  Steele),  d.  George  H.  Married,  August  2d,  1865, 
to  Rev.  John  B.  Steele,  who  was  ordained  Aug.  16th,  1865,  preached 
several  years  in  Western  New  York,  and  died  November  29th,  1873,  aged 
thirty-eight  years,  at  Middlebury,  Vt.,  where  she  resides. 

JANET  HOLMES  (Mrs.  Paine),  d.  George  Holmes.  Married  Levi  L.  Paine, 
D.D.  (Y.  C.  1856),  Professor  of  Ecclesiastical  History,  Theol-  Sem.,  Ban- 
gor,  Me. 

MAKY  A.  DAVENPOBT  (Mrs.  White),  d.  George  A.  Married  Dr.  Charles 
B.  White,  surgeon,  U.S.A.,  son  of  Dr.  Ambrose  L.  White,  and  grandson 
of  Levi  Taylor. 

MABTHA  BELDEN  (Mrs.  Warren),  d.  John  A.  Married,  A.D.  1869,  Dr. 
Warren,  of  Norwich,  Conn.,  who  died  some  years  ago. 

CLABINA  STUKGES,  d.  Charles.  Graduate  Mt.  Holyeke.  Married.  Re- 
sides in  Brookfield,  Conn. 

JOSEPHINE  STURGES,  d.  Charles.  Graduate  Mt.  Holyoke.  Married  O.  A. 
G.  Todd,  lawyer,  Danbury. 

ABTEMESIA  STTJBGES,  d.  Charles.  Student  for  a  while  at  Mt.  Holyoke. 
Teacher  of  music.  Married. 

JANE  D.  MIDDLEBBOOK  (Mrs.  Foote),  d.  George  B.  Married  Joseph  F. 
Foote,  lawyer,  Norwalk. 

ELIZABETH  MIDDLEBBOOK  (Mrs.  Barber),  d.  George  B.  A.D.  1870,  mar- 
ried James  W.  Barber,  M.D. ,  Norwalk. 

FBANCBSCA  BETTS  (Mrs.  Nesbit),  d.  John  C.  Married  Rev.  Alexander 
Nesbit  (graduate  of  N.  Y.  Col.),  Pastor  of  the  Presbyterian  Church,  Tre- 
mont,  N.  Y.,  who  died  in  1875. 


LETTERS 

IN  REPLY  TO  INVITATIONS  OF  THE  COMMITTEE. 

LETTER  FROM  DR.  G.  HALL. 

To  THE  CONGREGATIONAL  CHURCH  IN  WILTON: 

BELOVED— Although  it  is  nearly  a  quarter  of  a  century  since  my  Pastoral  connec- 
tion with  yon  was  severed,  I  still  retain  a  lively,  affectionate  interest  in  the  Church 
of  my  first  love. 

It  is  a  matter  of  sore  regret  that  I  could  not  be  present  at  the  late  gathering, 
•commemorative  of  the  one  hundred  and  fiftieth  year  of  your  existence  as  an  organiza- 
tion; but  a  combination  of  circumstances  seemed  to  render  it  impracticable. 

The  four  men  who  were,  perhaps,  more  influential  than  any  others  in  securing 
.my  settlement  in  Wilton,  about  twenty-eight  years  ago,  still  survive,  and  participated 
in  your  recent  festivities. 

These  friends,  and  indeed  all  who  counselled  with  me  respecting  my  call  to  your 
parish,  were  truthful  and  thoroughly  honest  in  their  representations — as  is  not  always 
the  case  when  a  new  Pastor  is  sought.  They  reported  to  me  the  exact  state  of  feeling, 
how  many  voted  for  me,  and  how  many  declined;  and  their  prophecy  was,  that  in  six 
.months  those  very  ones  who  took  no  part  in  calling  me  would  be  among  my  firmest 


APPENDIX.  Ill 

friends.  This  proved  true.  I  found  none  but  friends  in  the  Church  and  parish 
If.  during  my  stay  among  you,  any  word  was  spoken  or  any  act  done,  out  of  unkind 
intent  towards  me,  it  never  came  to  my  knowledge. 

The  contract  under  which  I  settled  in  Wilton  was  more  than  fulfilled.  Liberality 
towards  me  increased  each  succeeding  year  of  my  Pastorate  among  you. 

In  one  respect  particularly,  as  I  look  back,  I  admire  the  kindness  and  forbearance 
of  the  long-suffering  people.  When  I  recollect  that  my  sermons  at  times  exceeded  an 
hour  in  length,  and  that  the  hearers  bore  it  good-naturedly,  I  think  they  must  have  had 
great  deference  to  the  "everlasting"  Gospel  and  great  tenderness  for  the  young  man 
who  spread  his  matter  over  such  a  superficial  area.  But  I  suppose  they  had  hope  of 
my  improvement  in  this  respect,  as  vonerable  ministerial  brethren  had  for  my  ortho- 
doxy when  some  of  the  "new  school  kinks"  should  be  taken  out  of  me. 

I  could  fill  many  pages  with  reminiscences  of  my  short  ministry  in  your  town. 
1  remember  some  marked  characters  with  whom  I  had  to  do.  I  have  my  associations 
with  visits  and  hospitality  and  meetings  in  Pimpewang  and  Kent,  and  Bald  Hill  and 
Belden's  Hill,  and  Chicken  street  and  Nod,  &c.  I  recall  faithful  workers — men  and 
women— in  these  various  districts  who  were  an  encouragement  and  a  help.  We  were 
permitted  to  rejoice  together  over  many  souls  won  to  the  Kingdom  of  Christ.  These 
fellow-workers,  many  of  them,  have  gone  to  their  reward. 

Removal  from  my  Wilton  charge  was  effected  without  losing  their  confidence  or 
good  will.  So  that  the  way  has  been  open  for  visiting  my  old  parish  with  delight.  It 
has  been  my  privilege  to  preach  at  the  settlement  of  two  Pastors  who  succeeded 
me.  and  I  have  rejoiced  in  the  good  and  able  men  whom  you  have  had  for  your 
ministers.  May  the  Lord  continue  such  in  a  long  succession  to  this  ancient  and 
honored  Church,  and  maintain  a  growing,  active,  faithful  membership  of  men  and 
women  and  children,  and  send  forth,  as  He  has  in  years  past,  many  to  preach  the 
Gospel  and  honor  the  Christian  name  in  various  walks  of  life  !  The  Lord  bless  thee 
And  thy  helpers,  and  make  thee  a  praise  and  an  excellency  from  generation  to 
generation. 

Yours,  in  abiding  affection, 

GORDON  HALL. 

Northampton,  Masi.,  July  5<A,  1876. 


ABSTRACT  OF  LETTER  RECEIVED   FROM  REV.  S.  R\  DIMOCK. 

CENTRAL  CITY,  Col.,  I 
July  10th,  1878.      )" 

DEAR  FRIEND  OLMSTEAIK  Your  letter  found  me  on  the  top  of  the  Rocky  Moun- 
tains, whither,  perhaps  the  Lord  hath  sent  me  up  to  die.  In  my  school-boy  days  I 
read  of  these  mountains,  but  never  dreamed  they  were  to  be  my  future  home.  Though 
your  letter  came  too  late  for  the  grand  celebration,  yet  it  made  no  difference,  for  the 
distance  and  expense  would  have  prevented  my  attendance.  Yet  how  gladly  would  I 
have  been  with  you.  for  I  dearly  love  that  ancient  Church  and  the  dear  people 
to  whom  I  ministered  so  pleasantly  for  a  year  and  a  half.  Though  there  is  little 
piospect  of  it  at  present.  I  still  cherish  the  hope  of  visiting  you  again  before  I  die. 
*********** 

I  wi^li  you  in  some  way  to  assure  the  people  that  my  affection  for  them  has  grown 
stronger  and  stronger  as  the  years  have  glided  away.  And  now  that  the  cloud  of  sor- 
row hae  lifted  in  a  measure,  I  find  the  hope  reviving  that  I  may.  ere  long,  visit  the 
^cent's  of  happy  memory,  and  express  in  person  to  my  former  people  my  continued  con- 
fidence and  love.  My  daughter  also  mow  sixteen)  has  a  strong  desire  to  yisit  the  old 
parsonage  where  she  was  born,  and  form  the  acquaintance  of  her  father's  friends 
whom  she  was  too  young  to  remember. 

Most  truly  yourf. 

s.  R.  DIMOCK. 


112 


APPENDIX. 


LETTER  FROM  BEY.  LEWIS  GREGORY. 

LINCOLH,  Nebraska,  (_ 
June  17,  1876     ) 
MB.  EDWARD   OLMSTEAD: 

DEAR  FRIEND— In  a  letter  received  from  Rev.  S.  R.  Dimock.  my  predecessor  in  the 
Church  here  and  now  of  Central  City,  Colorado,  he  said:  "Little  did  I  think,  when 
preaching  in  Wilton  fifteen  years  ago,  of  going  out  into  the  Great  American  Desert  to 
prepare  the  way  for  one  of  the  boys  of  my  congregation."  But  so  it  was  to  be.  And 
fnm  the  Desert,  now  "blossoming  as  the  rose,"  I  send  back  to  the  dear  mother 
Church  and  her  sons  and  daughters  gathered  to  observe  her  birth-day,  the  heartiest 
greetings.  Besides  the  attachment  one  always  feels  for  the  home  of  his  childhood,  I 
love  the  Church  as  the  birth-place  and  home  of  my  soul.  It  has  always  seemed 
to  me  that  the  beauty  of  its  landscape,  the  excellence  of  its  Academy,  the  intelligence 
of  its  ladies,  and  the  many  quaint  people  to  be  found  among  its  inhabitants,  give 
Wilton  a  peculiar  charm.  Though  fifteen  hundred  miles  of  land  separate  us,  I  assure 


God  for  His  blessing  upon  my  labors,  and  the  early  Wilton  training  which  fitted  me 
for  helping  to  lay  the  foundations  in  this  new  country. 

Our  cuy  already  numbers  eight  thousand  people,  and  is  rapidly  growing.  Outside 
of  the  University  towns  you  could  hardly  find  in  the  East  as  Jarge  a  proportion  of 
liberally  educated  people  as  here 

Give  my  love  to  all  enquiring  friends,  and  believe  me, 

Ever  yours, 

LEWIS  GREGORY. 


LETTER  FROM  REV.  MR.  HARVEY. 

[IK  reply  to  a  letter  of  inquiry,  in  which  the  seven  questions  were  for  convenience 
numbered,  this  letter  was  received  from  the  Rev.  Mr.  Harvey.  His  answer  follows 
the  order  of  the  questions  It  was  written  with  no  thought  of  its  being  published, 
or  used  in  its  present  form ;  but  it  was  so  highly  prized  by  those  to  whom  it  was 
read,  that  the  author,  with  some  reluctance,  consents  that  his  friends  use  it  as  they 
think  best.  S.  G.  W.] 

BROADWAY,  N  Y.,  I 
June  16th,  1876.     t" 
REV.   S.  G.   WILLARD: 

DEAR  BROTHER — In  answer  to  yours  of  the  13th,  I  send  the  following  : 

1.  I  was  born  at  Jamestown,  Chatanqua  County,  New  York. 

2.  April  15th,  1825-  new  style. 

3.  I  am  the  son  of  Charles  R.  Harvey, 
which  was  the  son  of  Rufus 

which  was  the  son  of  Jonathan          " 

which  was  the  son  of  William 

which  was  the  son  of  Thomas 

which  was  the  son  of  William 

who  emigrated  to  this  country  from  England,  and  bought  what  is  now  the  town  of 

Taunton,  Mass  ,  from  the  Indians  for  a  peck  of  beans. 

He  was  the  great-grandson  of  Turner  Harvey — a  noted  archer  and  warrior,  the 
mightiest  man  with  his  bow  in  all  England.  At  his'denth  there  was  no  man  in  England 
who  could  spring  his  bow.  He  was  born  about  1500. 

My  mother's  name  was  Olive  Willard  I  am  proud  of  my  connection  with  the 
Willafd  family.  Perhaps  you  may  not  be  ashamed  to  acknowledge  me  as  your  thirty- 
ninth  cousin,  especially  as  I  am  not  a  Presidential  candidate. 

4.  Graduated  in  1844  at  the  University  of  the  City  of  New  York. 

5.  Imbibed  a  limited  amount  of  theology  at  the  Union  Theological  Seminary  hi 
this  City. 

6.  My  wife's  father's  name  was  Edward  Lewis.     Her  mother's  name  was  Cynthia 
Gildersleeve.  of  Portland,  Conn.     My  wife  is  an  excellent  woman. 

7.  ''Several  other  things"  must  be  imagined.      My  life  has  been  uneventful,  except 
four  children.      I  never  was  burned  at  the  stake,  though  the  "  steak  "  has  been  too 
often  burned  for  me. 

I  do  not  receive  a  pension  for  my  services  in  the  late  war,  nor  do  I  suppose  that  I 
have  any  particular  claim  upon  the  admiration  and  gratitude  of  the  latest  posterity. 
Without  official  title  or  honor  I  wearily  toil  in  the  dusty  highways  of  life,  and  am 
so  deaf  that  I  can't  hear  a  man  when  he  asks  me  for  money 

I  should  be  very  happy  to  attend  the  Wilton  Centennial,  but  poverty  clothes  me 
with  ceedy  habiliments,  and  makes  me  anxious  to  save  my  last  dollar  to  buy  your 
"  Historical  Address  "  I  hope,  as  I  believe,  that  I  shall  not  be  missed.  With  many 
thanks  for  your  kindness,  I  remain 

Yours  truly, 

WHEELOCK  NYE  HARVEY. 


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